Because We're Sonic Heroes
by Child at Heart Forever
Summary: Heroes adapt- Eggman apparently comes out of his five month hiatus from evil, aiming to enslave the world under his robot army within three days time. Thus, twelve heroes divided into four teams rise to the challenge of taking him down. It becomes a race to see who can reach him first...but in this fragile web of teamwork, is Eggman truly the one at fault?
1. Intro to Adventure!

**After planning on doing this, I'm finally putting it into action!...a year later. **

**It's set up a little like the Adventure duo stories, but since there's only four points of view (and occuring at the same time no less), the POV swaps much more often. And this only exists because I _really_ want to adapt Shadow the Hedgehog, but it wouldn't feel right if I just skipped over Heroes. But, to be honest, I'm kinda glad at how it turned out!**

**So there's nothing else to say but I hope you enjoy! ^^**

* * *

><p>Because We're Sonic Heroes<p>

Prologue: Into to Adventure!

Dr. Robotnik, otherwise known as and forever doomed to Eggman, wiped the sweat off his forehead as he leaned against the large metal door in one of his many bases.

"That was quite the hassle…I never thought the latest of my E-100 series would go haywire like that…" he huffed. Eggman then dusted his hands off and trotted back to his desk, pondering his miscalculations. "Well, perhaps it's best if I let the E-Series go…and that last robot won't be getting out anytime soon, that's for sure."

He took one last look at the massive door- several important things were locked up in there under tight security. That room was meant for projects that were never to be seen by anyone but him…

Eggman took a comfortable seat in his main lab, sketching out some blueprints for a new android. It had been awhile (almost five months to be exact) since his last attempt at anything evil- thinking about it brought tons of memories flooding. Shadow…Space Colony ARK…his own grandfather…Maria…it was quite the tale. In the end, Eggman had realized his grandfather, whom he had looked up to and admired, had intentions that far surpassed simply "devious". Not even Eggman would want to utterly destroy a planet…

His last words to any member of the Sonic Heroes were to Tails, in their last conversation aboard the ARK. After he had explained what his dream once was to the young fox, Eggman turned heel and began to leave. Curious as always, Tails whirled around and asked him a final question.

_"Where are you going?"_

_"Next time I'll pull this off without anyone's help! I'll use my own power to take over the world!"_

But, despite that exchange, Eggman lacked the motivation to carry out any mad scheme he designed.

So nowadays, he spent his time doodling out ideas for robots, whether being some to help out a cause, or just some for pure entertainment. The schematics of his base even revealed a huge hidden fleet below even the lowest floors, though the doctor never had a reason for using it anymore…

Maybe he didn't. Someone, or something, else did.

Red eyes flickered to life, but had already caught the scene displayed before them: a fellow robot being thrown into that room against its will. It infuriated the creation, even if it was incapable of feeling emotions, and action was going to be taken.

Eggman was blissfully unaware of the rage building up in the droid, currently floating in an oversized test tube. He was caught up in a new idea for a robot, hoping to replace the E-Series robot that had betrayed him. Besides, it was about time he started up a new line…the E-Series had tons of flukes anyway.

"You will do as I say."

Eggman's head arose from the desk, terrified at the sound of a foreign voice. He glanced around- not another soul in sight…

But the voice…it was stone cold, hard as steel, and sharp enough to cut through diamond.

"Must be old age or something…" the doctor decided, quickly returning to work.

Then, shatter.

Glass flew in every direction, Eggman only knowing to take cover because of the explosive sound it had made. Daring to look up to see what had caused the shatter and what had broken in the first place, it was a quite a shock to him to see his prized creation, yet somewhat scrapped, standing among the pieces of glass scattered on the floor. Instead of his eyes being the green they were programmed to be, they bore a frightening shade of infra-red, resembling heat-seeking lasers.

"What do you think you are doing?" Eggman hissed, trying to hide the fact that his heart was beating way too fast for his liking. The robot simply took a step forward, grabbed the nearest chair, and chucked it at Eggman. The doctor dramatically hit the floor and rolled under his desk, luckily avoiding any glass. The artificial intelligence ignored Eggman for the moment, instead skimming across his doodles on paper. Right next to a stack of musings was Eggman's personal computer, a lot more convenient than the super computer on the other floor.

"I ask again, what are you doing?" Eggman snarled, still not moving from the safely of the table.

The robot bent down and stared soullessly into Eggman's eyes.

"I refuse to standby any longer…you treat robots like mere creations…and you've kept me behind that pane of glass one moment too long."

"I have no more need for you," Eggman challenged back. "You should be grateful I didn't scrap you!"

"Or stuff me into a closet…"

"That robot had turned on me!"

"As have I."

Eggman barely knew what hit him when the sharp pain of a beam rocketed through his entire body. The robot had pent-up frustration coursing through every wire in his body.

"You call yourself a genius. I scoff at that. All the technology and brainpower you could possibly ask for, and you haven't used it to get what you've truly desired…"

Grabbing Eggman's collar, he dragged him out from under the desk and down the nearest hallway. His menacing eyes were all that were needed to light the way.

His intentions were dark, yet well-thought out. Fulfill the doctor's dream while crushing them at the same time and satisfying himself as well. Creation smarter than creator, he supposed. Payback would be present, a true force to be reckoned with would be awakened…he was going to display it_ all_.

Tossing Eggman into a cell to give him a taste of his own medicine, then slamming the door shut, the creation left to carry out his grand plan.

Eggman, barely conscious, had one last trick up his sleeve.

But no guarantee it would work.

. . .

Amy Rose sighed, sitting in a chair on the boardwalk. Her view looked out onto the beautiful ocean, but her eyes were only locked on that picture. She had longed to see Sonic, since she rarely ran into him now that Eggman had "given up evil", and Sonic had been in and out and all around the world in a search for excitement. Where did that leave Amy? All alone without a boyfriend. Poor her…

The picture she stared longingly at in her hand was a photo of none other than her hero, taken from a newspaper that told about the latest sighting of the hedgehog. Amy swooned over it constantly, hoping that Sonic still wasn't too far away.

The only other thing that stood out about the picture was the fact that Sonic was carrying Chocola Chao, the brother of Cheese the Chao, who was Cream the Rabbit's pet Chao. Cream was currently sitting on the top of the large straw umbrella Amy was lounging under, stroking Cheese caringly. Ever since his brother went missing, Cream had to comfort Cheese nonstop!

Sonic was also carrying a green frog, known as Froggy and named by Big the Cat. He and Froggy had only done a few notable things long ago that deviated from their usual laid-back lifestyle, but it was nothing but a distant tale now. Big was Froggy's first and closest friend, and if he was missing…again…Big would be determined to locate him…again.

In fact, that was the only reason the three of them were together- they were looking for something, and if their clue-picture spoke the truth, then all three would be in the same area. Right now they were taking a small break before officially heading off, but that was only because Amy wanted to daydream about Sonic.

"Ah…I wonder where Sonic is…"

A small breeze suddenly rushed through Amy's hand, blowing the picture away.

"Oh no!"

Cream quickly jumped off the large umbrella and flew after the photo. She reached out to grab it, but alas, it flew out of her reach as well. Luckily for her, Cheese was swift to get it for her. He spun around in the air and held it victoriously up over his head.

"Chao!"

"Whew…"

Amy rushed out of her seat and ran up to Cream, who held out the photo and gave her best friend a light scolding.

"Amy, please be more careful with our only clue!"

"You're right, I'm sorry. I-"

The wind blew again, this gust a lot stronger than the first one. Little Cream got caught in the gust and suddenly found herself flying away uncontrollably into the air.

"Waaah!"

A fishing line came up out of nowhere, latching onto the rabbit and pulling her back down from the air. When Cream came back down, she found herself bouncing on a different large umbrella and landing in the palm of the hand of a large purple cat.

"Nice catch Big!" Amy cheered, running up to Big as he put away his tool. He started to laugh lightly until his gaze fell onto the picture Amy held in her hand.

"Froggy…" he trailed sadly.

"Chocola…" Cream sighed as well. Amy saw the glum looks on their faces and tried to raise their spirits.

"Hey, you guys, cheer up! You know we'll find them! No time to waste just standing here! C'mon, let's get going!"

Cream and Big nodded in agreement. "Okay!"

Amy bolted forward, nearly knocking Big off the pier. Cream eagerly followed after her as Big regained his balance, then trampled behind them.

. . .

Rouge the Bat, once a treasure hunter, active secret agent, and master thief extraordinaire, was currently stalking around in the very base that Eggman had been working in. She had been off on her own ever since the ARK incident. The golden ring kept safe in her pocket at all times was a constant reminder of her fallen friend that had been lost during the fight to save the world. Not only had a valiant hero had been lost, but the start of a closer friendship for Rouge. They had been through so much…only for it all to be in vain.

Rouge reached down into the pocket of her pink and purple agent outfit, pulling out the ring in question. Shadow's inhibitor ring, the one he had dropped during his final battle, had been the only piece of Shadow his battle buddy had been able to salvage. He gave it to Rouge, figuring she'd be the one to cherish it the most.

She clenched it tightly in her palm before shoving it back into her pocket and continuing on. She had made a few friends along the way, but they weren't as close to her as Shadow was, and therefore she rarely saw them anyway.

Boredom eventually got the best of her, and upon hearing a rumor of riches, Rouge finally decided to get back to doing what she used to do- treasure hunting.

Jumping off a higher part of the base, Rouge landed on the floor of a lower level and back flipped up to the large silver door. She hardly had to look as she typed the passcode into the number pad beside the door. She already knew the passcode from past experiences, so she simply admired her hand as the door flew open- nothing too new for her.

"This must be it!" she exclaimed as she entered the room. "I've found Eggman's secret treasure!"

Walking forward, however, she subconsciously sensed that this room was not a treasure room. No gold or jewels were placed in heaps in the corners, no boxes piled on top of one another, and there wasn't any particularly interesting information…

...Just a capsule filled with green liquid placed in the middle of the room. Rouge felt that it had to be _something_ worth checking out, so she approached anyway and proceeded to get it open.

What she didn't notice were two infra-red eyes glowing from a wall of the room, belonging to a robot of massive proportions. It sensed another presence in the room and slowly stalked over to Rouge.

Rouge rapidly pushed buttons and pulled levers, the green liquid inside quickly draining. A body of some sort was revealed to have been floating within as the capsule opened, and when Rouge looked up, her eyes widened and her hand flew to her mouth to cover up her cry of shock.

The body's crimson red eyes shot open, surveying all of the room with no more than two glances. He saw the albino bat, but before he could even think about who she was or what she was doing, he caught sight of the robot out of the corner of his eye, preparing for rapid fire.

Things started to explode, and Rouge didn't know what to do. The hedgehog who had been in the capsule jetted forward, seeing a stray projectile ricochet off the wall and aimed for the bat. He gently pushed Rouge to the ground and ordered her in a soft whisper: "Stay here."

"Shadow-? !"

The black hedgehog with red streaks running up and down his arms, legs, and quills jumped away from Rouge, diving into the barrage in search of the robot responsible. Shadow bounced swiftly from wall to wall, not one bit of ammunition making contact with him.

"Must eradicate all Eggman robots!" the robot bellowed, blasting nonstop at Shadow. Rouge turned from Shadow to the robot, her face twisting into frightened confusion.

"Huh? !"

Shadow finally found a blind spot and charged at the torso of the robot . He was getting ready to land a pretty heavy blow, and the robot, whose name was most likely Omega due to the Greek letter designs on his shoulders, had finally seen Shadow and was preparing to blast his head off.

"Hey! Hold up!"

Rouge intercepted them right before they made contact with each other, a feat that made her somewhat exhausted since she moved faster than Shadow was and with more force than Omega's attacks. She panted and let her ears droop as the tension in the room dropped considerably.

. . . .

The room had been trashed seriously by Omega, but Rouge didn't really mind- she knew all she needed to know. She sat perched above the other two after hearing what they had to say.

"Now I get it…now I know what this is all about!" she pointed at Omega, who was still itching to tear the place to the ground. "You're mad at Eggman for sealing you in this room!"

She gave him a sideways glance as she turned to Shadow, arms folded and glaring angrily at the wall. Rouge gave a minute smile, because she was glad Shadow was back, but…

"And you," she continued, pushing away her thoughts. "You can't remember anything, can you?"

Shadow just glanced even more away from her, and she frowned slightly.

"…then it's settled, now you two make up so we can start looking for Eggman…together!"

Rouge jumped down and grabbed Shadow and Omega's hands, placing them together and putting hers on top.

"Aw yeah, baby! This makes us a team!"

Rouge had a feeling she couldn't have asked for a better one at that…but a killer robot and an amnesiac Shadow? They were going to need some breaking in.

. . .

Vector the Crocodile was hanging out in his headquarters, head bobbing to the music that was spewing out of his headphones. The office was messy, the fan was barely spinning to cool them all off, and he and his other fellow detectives had nothing to do.

See, since Eggman retired from evil, or was at least in some sort of hiatus, Sonic had been taking up any odd crime fighting and people helping jobs he could get his hands on, just to get that same rush like the old days. Of course, he performed them all fantastically and people praised him for it- being a hero didn't mean you had to go crash the giant doomsday device in the sky or slay an inhumane monster!

The only problem with this was that it left the Chaotix without any sort of work, and very, very little pay. They could barely get by as it was! Vector personally liked Sonic, and his friends, but when it came to work…well, he'd prefer if they stayed clear out of the way. Being detectives, they needed the cases and the jobs and the work just to get by! When it came to Sonic? He did them just for fun and because it was the right thing to do. Sometimes it just made Vector's blood boil.

At the moment, however, he was at peace, listening to his favorite song ever- the one that promoted their detective agency! Espio the Chameleon, second-in-command in the agency and full-time ninja, was leaning against the wall, but Vector could never tell if he was meditating…or just sleeping. However, this time he wasn't sleeping, as he turned his head and questioned, "Hmm?"

…just as Charmy Bee burst obnoxiously through the doors with a brown package.

"It's here! It's finally here!" he shrieked, all up in a buzz about the package. He was so excited, he slammed straight into Vector (who wasn't paying much attention either), causing papers to go flying, Charmy to go flying toward the floor, and for Vector to belt out with, "WHOOOOAAA!" and tumbled out of his chair.

The brown package that had once been in Charmy's arms was now toppling dramatically in the air, just missing being sliced up by the slow-spinning ceiling fan.

Espio acted quickly, whipping out one of his weapons in a flash and chucking it at the package within the same move. The knife-like object struck the package and stuck it harmlessly to the wall. As Espio admired his work, Vector sat himself up and started yelling at Charmy.

"What's wrong with you-"

"It's here! It's here!" Charmy continued to scream, regardless of the chain of insults he was about to receive. "We've got work!"

All hatred toward Charmy vanished as Vector guffawed. "WHAT! ?"

The package opened all by itself and a walkie-talkie dropped onto Vector's lap. An altered voice came out from the other end, and Charmy was quick to get close so he could hear too.

"I've heard good things about you and require your detective services," the caller at the other end explained. "And I can pay handsomely."

Charmy gave Vector a thumbs up and both of their eyes flashed with dollar signs. Vector instantly stood up and started making tracks for the door.

"I've got a bad feeling about this…" Espio trailed unsurely, getting up from the floor.

"Espio, don't be silly!" Vector exclaimed as he and Charmy made their way up to him. "Besides, you know our policy. We never turn down works that pays!"

"Yeah, you know our policy!" Charmy chimed in.

"C'mon boys! Let's go!"

"Yes sir!"

Vector and Charmy bolted out the door, Espio looking perplexed before muttering, "Roger", and running off too.

Vector was exceptionally happy, since they had a job that specifically requested the Chaotix, and the Chaotix alone! No Sonic to swoop in and take their work…it made Vector feel good.

"Hear that, Sonic? We've got a job! And where are _you_ right now, exactly, huh?"

"Vector, why are you talking to yourself?"

. . .

Sonic was currently running around in a canyon-like area, fit with swirling rock formations to run through and large, yet narrowly spaced cliffs for him to jump off of. Sonic would bound from wall to wall, then breeze down whatever little path he could find. Being him, the thought of no excitement in his life was a hard one to accept, so he sufficed himself by running through new terrain every day until he found something to entertain him for a while. Sure, helping out a friend or two was nice, and taking down the occasional criminal was fun too, but nothing would ever make Sonic feel more satisfied or get his blood pumping like snuffing out true evil.

It was great that his arch nemesis had resigned from unlawful actions, but Sonic hated to admit that it made him bored. If he had a choice, he'd pick that Eggman should stay good, because it was just the principle of the thing…but with no evil mastermind to battle constantly, what else was Sonic going to do?

He pondered this endlessly, and he was pondering over it right now as he wove through cactuses and created dirt clouds just by sprinting. The lack of evil-fighting wasn't too much to complain about- Sonic would _always_ be satisfied if he could find somewhere to run.

However, his wish for some action was answered by a blue bi-plane tearing through the sky, following Sonic spot on. The driver of the plane had finally found what he was looking for and smiled.

"Hey look, it's Sonic!"

Miles Prower, but better known to his friends as just Tails, did several spins as he lowered the plane down to be leveled with Sonic. Like everyone else, even Tails hardly got to see Sonic anymore, but he was pretty sure he ran into Sonic more often than anyone. No matter what though, it was always good to see his best friend.

Sonic heard the familiar purr of the Tornado II, a plane built in honor of Sonic's original red bi-plane that had died in a fierce airborne battle, and turned to see Tails. He broke out into a crazy grin as he gave a small wave.

"Yo Tails! Long time no see!"

"Sonic! Check this out!"

Tails leaned over the edge of the plane and held out a single piece of paper that was flapping furiously. Sonic jumped, flipped, grabbed the paper, then alighted back on his feet and started running backward as he looked it over.

_"Muwahahahaha! Guess what, Sonic Heroes? I've finally developed the ultimate weapon! In three days I'll conquer the world! Think you can stop me? Ahahahaha!"_

Not quite what Sonic was expecting, but hey, he'd take it!

"Hmmm…sounds like an invitation to party!"

"What're we gonna do, Sonic?" Tails asked, driving and staring at his friend with a face full of concern. Knuckles the Echidna, whom was lounging in the passenger's seat of the Tornado sitting sideways, just assured Tails confidently.

"No worries, we've got this one!"

Sonic smirked at his other best friend and rolled his eyes. "Heh, think I'd miss this? ! Time to crack that Eggman wide open…yeah, let's party!"

Tails and Knuckles jumped out of the plane (luckily after it was put on autopilot) and started to run after Sonic. The team took off through the rest of the desert, ready to get back into some real action after so long.


	2. Seaside Hill

Because We're Sonic Heroes

Chapter 1: Seaside Hill

Amy, Cream, and Big, who had quickly left the pier and had entered Seaside Hill through the Sea Gate, instantly took off in a hunt for their friends. Amy was on sharp look-out for Sonic, Cream for Chocola, and Big for Froggy. Being the closest to the sea beforehand, Team Rose had a head start on the other teams- not that they knew they existed.

"Wow, I've never been here before…" Cream trailed, her eyes full of wonder as all the precious sights of Seaside Hill filled her for the first time. She was almost oblivious to the fact that Big was breaking rocks with nothing more than brute strength and his umbrella just in front of her.

"Just don't get distracted- remember, we're looking for Sonic!" Amy exclaimed. Cream snapped out of her trance and glanced at her leader.

"And Chocola…"

"And Froggy too…" threw in Big, smashing another rock to pieces.

"True," Amy admitted, spinning into some of Eggman's robots and jumping to another platform. "But since Sonic was with them last, if we find Sonic, we'll find all three of them at the same time!"

"Good thinking!" Big agreed instantly. Cream, on the other hand, wasn't all too sure.

"I dunno Amy…what if Mr. Sonic doesn't have Chocola and Froggy anymore?"

"Just don't think like that!" protested Amy. "I'm certain that if we look for Sonic, we'll find Chocola and Froggy too, okay?"

Cream and Big shrugged and nodded. Amy put on a confident smirk as Cream grabbed Amy's wrists, then Big grabbed Amy's ankles, and they flew over an impassable section, looking for the blue hedgehog Amy constantly mentioned.

. . .

Speak of the blue devil, he, Tails, and Knuckles were currently making an entrance in Seaside Hill as well. Sonic had his arms spread as he ran, letting the light beach breeze rush through his quills.

"Ah, isn't it great to be back in the front seat of adventure again?" he sighed, running over a Boost Pad placed right by a bridge. Tails nodded eagerly.

"Yeah! But…isn't it a little strange that Eggman would devise some sort of plot so…suddenly? Even though he confided to me that next time we met, the bets were off…"

"Isn't he the type to do that?" asked Knuckles, running a bit behind them both. Sonic just shrugged.

"It's hard to tell. Eggman also has the potential to ease into things as well! Maybe he was just craving the old times like I was or something!"

"I will admit it's nice to be hanging out again, Sonic," Tails said with a smile.

"I guess it's a bit of a change of pace…but I don't like the thought of leaving my Emerald unguarded!"

Aw, come on Knuckles! I bet Eggman's forgotten about that old thing! Who else would want to bother stealing it?"

Knuckles glanced at the ground as he muttered, "Rouge…"

. . .

"You two ready?" Rouge asked as they strolled into Seaside Hill. It was apparently the first destination for everyone. She was hiding the fact that she was really excited for this outing, if only for the sake of keeping a mysterious air about her.

"Warning…immediate destruction if distracted," announced Omega in response.

Shadow just scoffed and tossed his head. "Hmph! Hope you can keep up with me!"

He assumed his skating position and took off, Omega thundering after. Rouge delayed for a few seconds, lightly smiling to herself.

Shadow ran over a Boost Pad then rushed over a ramp at top speeds, time seeming to stop as he was in the air. Rouge and Omega managed to stay with him easily, but that was just the start. Shadow continued to race through the land, occasionally looking over his shoulder to see if Rouge and Omega were still there.

Naturally, they still were, but at the speed Shadow was going, he really couldn't tell for sure.

And he almost didn't care, to an extent.

It was a weird experience, being an amnesiac. He couldn't remember anything beyond Rouge's shocked face when she found him, and now his mind was filling up with pictures and thoughts every time he turned his head. Seaside Hill was a nice sight, but that was not what he wanted on his mind- he wanted answers, but the only way he could find them was with his unlikely team.

. . .

"Psh, Rouge?" Sonic nearly scoffed, in response to Knuckles. "I haven't seen her since we all left the ARK!"

"I haven't seen her since then either," added Tails.

"She was probably hiding out on my island, waiting for a moment like this to strike!" Knuckles protested. Sonic rolled his eyes.

"Oh, calm down, the Master Emerald will be fine. Besides…" he started running backwards. "It's a beautiful day for adventure!"

And it was true- the sky was blue, the grass was greener in Seaside Hill, and the palms trees scattered along the paths and beaches swayed gently in the breeze. Sonic couldn't have asked for a better day to be exploring, running, or to be with his friends. As per usual, Tails was overjoyed at the thought of a new adventure with Sonic, while Knuckles was still trying to find a way to get out of it. Sonic smirked- hey, he wasn't going to complain.

. . .

"Yeah! Beach time!" Charmy blared when the Chaotix entered Seaside Hill.

"Now whadda we gonna do?" grunted Vector. To answer his question, the walkie-talkie Vector had received in the package started giving instructions as Charmy chanted "Sea! Sea! Sea! Sea!" in the background.

"First, I must test your abilities."

"Bring it on!" Vector smirked back. Espio, who had been somewhat silent, gave a two fingered salute.

"Ready."

"Here is your first mission. I want to test your investigation skills. There's a total of twenty hermit crabs on this beach, but I only require ten."

"They must be nearby, then…" Espio trailed.

"Yeah! They can't be that hard to find!" Charmy exclaimed.

"Just don't get let your guard down, boys…" Vector reminded them.

The three sped through a loop before landing in front of their first challenge- nothing more than an Eggman robot firing chaotically at them. Espio, being the leader at the moment, threw himself at the robot, but wasn't doing too much damage.

"Leave this to me boys…" Vector trailed, approaching the robot confidently.

"What can you possibly do about that thing?" Charmy asked. Vector stared at the bee for the longest time before grabbing him and bowling him into the bot.

"That."

"Point taken…" Charmy groaned, happy his helmet had protected his head. He glanced up at the robot and broke out into a grin. "Hey, I really left a dent!"

"It's not finished yet," Vector pointed out, glancing at Espio. Espio didn't even need to look at him to figure out what he was planning.

"If you think you're going to throw me into that robot you're clearly crazy-"

Vector ignored Espio's protests and chucked him at the robot. With a mighty slam, the robot shattered into pieces. That solved their enemy problem, but they were a bit stuck on where to go next. Vector scanned the area while Espio tried to recover from being throwing into a metallic menace. Just before vector could speak, Charmy took action of his own.

"I'll take the lead!" Charmy cried, grabbing Espio's wrists and flying him upward. "Maybe I can get us somewhere!"

"Charmy! Wait for me!" shouted Vector, latching onto Espio's boots at the last moment.

"Here we go!"

Charmy carried the group over the jetting cliffs of the hills, bringing them to higher ground they couldn't have reached before. They flew a little ways before Espio spotted a place where they could land.

"Okay Charmy, just let us down gently-"

"Whee!"

"DAAAAH!"

Espio and Vector went careening out of the air, Vector crushing a block sitting in the road and Espio destroying a robot as well. They both picked themselves up off the ground and glared at Charmy. Charmy, still hovering, just gave a sheepish look.

"You told me to let go…"

"That was _not_ gently!"

"Well sorry!"

"It's okay Charmy," Vector sighed as he broke some boxes to locate a ramp. "Just as long as it doesn't happen again."

Charmy did a flip in the air and saluted at Vector.

"You got it!"

Espio rolled his eyes and started running off. "We don't have time for this…we need to find those crabs…"

The chameleon took off by himself for a while, hardly waiting for Vector and Charmy to keep up. The crocodile and bee caught up with him faster than expected, and soon enough, they were running alongside him. Eventually they came to another block where they found their first crab, just sitting and minding its own business…

…at least, until Vector pounced on it.

"Ha! One down!"

"Good, keep going!" their client praised through the walkie talkie.

"No problem," Espio responded.

The team then bounced from spring to spring, landing in an area that was filled with robots. Charmy seemed the most impressed.

"Wow, there sure are a lot of enemies around here!"

"I'll handle them before I'm used as a weapon," Espio stated, leaping into the air and crashing down on all five robots. They were all momentarily stunned from the damage they consumed, with Vector grabbing Charmy and hurling him into what remained.

"Might as well finish them off," Vector shrugged.

"Let's do it again!"

"Not right now, Charmy…"

. . .

Cream stared up apprehensively at the Cliffside that appeared massive to her. Big couldn't punch his way through it, and there was nothing Amy could do about it.

"Do you really think I can do it, Amy?"

"I know so!" Amy assured her. "You can fly us up to the next area, can't you, Cream?"

"I'll do my best," Cream replied, grabbing Amy's arms and carrying her upwards.

"Don't forget me!" Big wailed, reaching up and grabbing Amy before they flew too high. However, Big's feet were still touching the ground, so technically Cream was dragging them up the side of the cliff.

"I don't think I'm strong enough to pick Big up…" Cream realized shamefully. "Sorry, Mr. Big!"

"It's okay Cream- as long as we get to where were going!"

"Ha ha ha, yeah!"

Though it took a little while, Cream did get Amy and Big to the top of the cliff, where Amy regained leadership and lead her team along the edge. A few years of chasing Sonic had helped her become faster, but it still just wasn't enough for her to actually capture the blue hero and hang onto him.

Amy's dreamy thoughts of Sonic were interrupted with Cream's shriek of "Ahh! Enemy robots up ahead!"

"Calm down, we'll take care of them!"

As soon as they reached the gang of robots, Amy whipped out her hammer and started smashing the closest one to smithereens. Big was a bit surprised, but regardless he pulled out his umbrella and started whacking things with it. Unintentionally, he swung at Cream, who curled up into a ball and crashed into a robot. It was destroyed upon contact, with Big running up to Cream sitting in the aftermath.

"Are you okay?" Big asked. Cream brushed bits of metal off of her head while nodding.

"I'm fine! That was almost kind of fun, even if it was an accident!"

Anyway, Amy was hardly aware of whatever was keeping Big and Cream back- she just wanted to hurry up and find Sonic. Sources said that they'd seen him heading in their direction, so Amy knew they were headed the right way. She checked over her shoulder briefly to see that her team was still following before breaking out into a run. They ran for a little ways before Cream's help was needed.

"Cream, can you help us?" Amy asked, pointing to the top of the cliff. Cream shrugged and began to fly.

"I'll do my best!"

The rabbit first threw Big up there before even moving, then carried Amy up there manually. When they reached Big, he was already breaking down obstacles in their way and giving the girls a grin. However, Amy broke out into a frown after seeing what was up ahead.

"Tell me this isn't true!"

"Tell you what's not true?" asked Cream.

Amy pointed ahead of them, revealing that most of the path had broken away, leaving them with little to work with. Cream stared at it for a while before starting to hover.

"It's not so bad, Amy," Cream assured. "Here, I can fly us over!"

They got into flight formation, Cream quickly whisking them over the broken path without another thought.

"Huh, good thinking Cream!" Amy complimented, taking off again. Cream just beamed.

"It was nothing…"

. . .

"Great. What should be done now?" Omega questioned as Shadow braked to a stop at a cliff wall. It was a no brainer, as Rouge had flown into the air and smirked at the boys.

"I'll take it from here," she said simply, grabbing Shadow's hands and lifting him upwards. Rouge was so inwardly satisfied to actually be touching Shadow after all this time that she hardly even noticed Omega hanging onto Shadow- with her happiness, she felt like she could carry anything!

Once she flew the other two up to the top, Rouge allowed Shadow to retake the lead and ran off again. Seeing Shadow gliding over the ground at top speeds again was all Rouge could ask for. To watch him careen over the land like it was nothing brought back memories…memories that Shadow no longer shared with her, and that was one thought that saddened her a bit. He was back, yes, but he wasn't quite the same.

"Probably due to the lack of memories," Rouge sighed glumly.

"Did you utter something, Rouge?" Omega asked, glancing down at the bat. Rouge shook her head.

"No, no…just thinking aloud…"

"It is information that you do not feel comfortable in informing the rest of us with?"

"Um…yeah. I might tell you later."

"That is acceptable with me."

As Rouge was left even more confused to point of scratching her head, Omega locked onto some upcoming robots. His light sensors narrowed as he lifted his arms.

"Line up next to me."

Rouge and Shadow exchanged bewildered looks, but their stare-off was ended by Omega furiously grabbing them and hurling them into the robots ahead. Rouge left out an unexpected scream as she collided with the droid while Shadow pulled out of ball form and stopped himself before making contact with the robot.

"What is _wrong_ with you?" Shadow questioned, eyes gaping at Omega. Omega gave the equivalent of a shrug.

"I have scanned the threat- most efficient way for immediate defeat was to hurl teammates in its direction. Guaranteed destruction of Eggman robots!"

"A little warning next time!" huffed Rouge, dusting herself off. Shadow, meanwhile, was indifferent on the subject, walking calmly up to an active robot and knocking on its exterior. "And just what are you doing?"

"Hmph, I can take care of these clunkers myself!"

Rouge put on a blank face- there was no denying that was Shadow. Omega, on the other hand, wasn't so convinced.

"Sensors detect that this is true, but process would take up unnecessary amounts of time. My way is more efficient."

"Your way is more pain educing!" Shadow retorted, too busy deriding Omega to see the robot behind him lifting its gun. Rouge let out a shriek.

"Shadow, look out!"

Shadow didn't even need to turn around to grab the weapon, tear it off the machine, then use it to turn the robot into scrap- and at a pretty decent time as well. He turned to Omega and gave him a look.

"Who needs efficiency?"

"Who needs that level of hostility?" Omega shot back, marching ahead.

"Hey, cool it you two!" Rouge ordered, coming between them. "You already made up- don't go back to fighting now!"

"I simply had an effective way to take care of Eggman's robots. It is not my fault the hedgehog wanted to make things difficult."

"What did you say-"

"Knock it off!" Rouge cried, flying up and kicking them both to the ground. "We are not going anywhere until you two get a grip!"

**Several minutes later-**

"Feel free to do so at any time now," Rouge sighed. Shadow and Omega were still in the middle of the stare-off, the unblinking machine glowering deeply into the determined hedgehog's eyes, with neither showing any signs of weakness. "Remember- the enemy of your enemy is your friend. You're both going after Eggman, so what's the harm in achieving that goal together?"

"Well first off I don't like being insulted by a machine," Shadow huffed. "And second, I hardly have a legit reason to go after the doctor."

Rouge gawked at him.

"Of _course_ you do! You woke up in _his_ base in one of _his_ containment tubes that _he_ probably put you in and you don't have a recollection of anything! Not any of your feats, who you were, or who you knew!" She then added softly so he couldn't hear, _"You don't even remember _me_…"_

Shadow stared curiously at her. "So you're saying my memory loss is his fault."

"Maybe. I don't know. But the best answers you're going to get are from Eggman himself, so we need to go find him."

"Rouge has an excellent point of reason," Omega agreed, causing Shadow to tense up again. "Perhaps following her words is the best thing for us to do at this point in time."

"I agree as well," Shadow said in a strained tone, trying to prevent another fight from coming on. "We don't have time to waste."

"I'm just glad someone's finally listening to me…" Rouge moaned, carrying on.

. . .

Being the most experienced team, Team Sonic easily maneuvered through Seaside Hill. Sonic did most of their work, between speeding through slim areas, bouncing off springs, and spinning through rainbow loops. Tails said very little, which was unusual, and Knuckles only had the chance to lead when giant blocks stood in their way.

"See, this is fun, right?" Sonic asked, running a loop with ease. Tails flew behind him laughing happily while Knuckles just tried to go fast enough so he wouldn't fall off.

"I just wonder why we've never been here before!" Tails exclaimed.

"We're only here now because Eggman was spotted around here somewhere," said Knuckles bluntly. "We have to remember that."

"Or we can forget about that for the moment and have fun jumping off of stuff!" cheered Sonic, leaping off the edge of the latest cliff and spiraling down. Knuckles and Tails looked down after him, with Knuckles grunting in disapproval.

"He is _such_ a showoff…"

Knuckles started to glide down, with Tails flying alongside him.

"That's just how he is! You should know that by now, Knuckles!"

"Oh, I know that all right. I'm just saying, one of these times it'll backfire on him!"

Tails grinned nervously. "I'd love to agree with that, but we are talking about Sonic here…"

Knuckles groaned. "I know…"

"Hey, let's go guys!" Sonic called to them from several paces away. "Don't let me hog all the fun for myself!"

Tails lightly laughed while Knuckles started breathing heavily. The two of them bolted after Sonic, knowing that they wouldn't be able to catch up, but at least they wouldn't lose him. Tails flew high to keep Sonic in his sights, but Knuckles took a more violent approach by barreling forward at top speed and busting up any robots or obstacles that got in his way.

Sonic, meanwhile, had an easy time cruising up and over everything, running over the land all the while. He hadn't meant to leave Tails and Knuckles behind, but the thrill of running had taken him over and just wouldn't let go. As much as he wanted to stop and wait for them, he just couldn't bring himself to do so, thanks to his natural impatience.

"Heh, I'm not even going that fast," Sonic told himself as he ricocheted into a spring, back flipped off, and continued to dash away. It was such a freeing experience, coasting at top speeds on the upper edge of the hill like he was…

And there was no one else that could do what he could.

. . .

So Team Dark continued their search of Eggman, figuring that if they followed the location of his robots, they would eventually lead right to him. Rouge had convinced Shadow and Omega that they needed to fight together, rather than try to outdo each other. Despite that, Shadow was still doing backflips in the air and kicking robot heads clean off while Omega constantly slam-dunked Rouge into a number of robots at a time. Rouge groaned at her recent weapon-position, rubbing her head as she got back up.

"This isn't as fun as I thought it was going to be…"

But regardless, Rouge managed to keep them all somewhat in check. When they weren't fighting robots, Team Dark was almost in a state of peace. The soft waves of the oceans crashed against the seaside hills, the winds were gentle, the sky was blue…but that didn't prevent Omega from killing everything in sight, Shadow mulling over his thoughts, and Rouge from thinking about what could've happened with Shadow.

"Annihilation!" Omega shouted as he blasted at a helpless box. "Fire! Fire!"

"I could've just flown us over it, you know," Rouge pointed out.

"I want to remain non-obsolete."

"Omega, you're a one ton fighting and killing machine. You're not going to go out of style anytime soon."

"A bit of a shame, really," Shadow muttered, only to be punched in the shoulder by Rouge.

"What did I say about talking like that?"

"I have a right to free speech, woman."

Rouge fumed, but didn't dare say anything back to Shadow. She knew what he was capable of doing, even if he didn't.

Shadow, to escape whatever wrath Rouge was cooking up, took the lead and rushed over the lands again, running through loops and taking off on ramps. He was a bit surprised at his speed, and he was curious to see how fast he could really go.

Without giving a warning to the others, Shadow pushed himself to go faster, gaining speed with every movement. Omega had to uses his speedometer to figure out how fast Shadow was moving while Rouge had her breath taken away with the wind Shadow left behind.

"Sensors indicate that he's nearly going sound speed. Not quite, however…"

Rouge just smirked. "I knew he'd figure it out eventually…"

Meanwhile, Shadow was still trying to work the ins and outs of his new found speed. He knew he had left Omega and Rouge behind, but this was something that he just couldn't pass up. In all the commotion he was experiencing, one question seemed to pop out from the rest.

"Why am I so fast…? And if I'm able to move at super speeds, then what else can I do?"

His curiosity went on vacation when he noticed a blue streak whirl by him on an upper ledge- someone going as fast as he just was! Curiosity piqued again, Shadow bolted once more, trying to keep up with the speed demon. To his surprise, the blue creature was way faster than he could ever hope to be…but he could still keep up.

"Maybe I can go that fast but I don't know it yet," Shadow thought to himself, staring down at his feet. He willed himself to go faster, and soon enough, he was neck and neck with the owner of the blue blur. All that Shadow could depict was a blend of blue and red, but he could've sworn he'd seen a smirk somewhere in there, and it almost felt sort of familiar.

But as soon as he'd seen the smirk, the blur blasted away at a speed that not even Shadow could compare to. The speed was so overwhelming that it caused a large boom, followed by an unseen force that blew Shadow back quite a ways. As soon as he hit the ground again, he was lost in a daze, which Rouge and Omega could clearly tell he was in.

"Hey Shadow, you didn't overdo yourself, did you?" Rouge asked, lightly poking himself in the arm. "This is just the beginning, and we don't need you lying on the ground like this already!"

"I'm fine, I'm fine…I just…" Shadow tried to explain, but couldn't find the right words. "Maybe I was just seeing things…"

"What kind of things?" Rouge asked, helping him up. Shadow shrugged.

"Things that had me seeing blue…" He started jogging off, motioning to his team. "Sorry that I left you in the dust, by the way."

"Perfectly understandable," Omega replied on Shadow's right. "If it were me, I'd pursue my curiosity as well."

"…well it's good to know you're not upset," Shadow stated, not noticing Rouge hide a smile.

. . .

By the time Vector and Charmy had caught up with the rushing Espio once again, the chameleon had claimed another three crabs for their client. He sped down the hills, raced through the loops, and flipped around like a true ninja. Unlike Charmy, and to an extent Vector, Espio wanted to show this client that they were worthy of the job they were given, and that they could do it well. With Charmy's immature attitude, in Espio's opinion, the bee couldn't grasp how much the mission really was to the team as a whole.

"And if Vector wants to get his feet back on the ground like he keeps complaining about, he's going to have to step it up… a lot…"

"Whoa, check out the whales!" Charmy laughed, watching as they jumped over a small section of ruins and crashed back into the water. "That's so cool!"

"These ruins react to motion," Vector realized as he stepped on a particular platform.

"Whatever that means," Espio huffed, jumping onto a block and claiming their fifth crab. Vector was easily following Espio, but Charmy was still distracted by the sights. Vector tried to urge Charmy to come on, but Espio waved it off and said he'd catch up eventually.

"What's the matter?" the client asked. "You're only half way there!"

"There've been a few things holding us back," Espio reported diligently. "But we'll find the other crabs in no time."

"Hopefully, because I need to know that you three can handle what's in store for you."

Espio narrowed his eyes, but said nothing. He put the walkie talkie away and marched on, Vector still tagged by his side.

"Hey Espio, can I get the next crab? You've been hogging them all to yourself!"

"Hogging them all? I've been the one finding them all," Espio replied calmly. "If you find one, you can claim it."

Vector struck a pose and glanced around eagerly. "Right, got it! Don't forget to keep up the good work as well, Espio!"

"Yeah, okay…"

"You guys are so mean!" Charmy wailed, flying up to them in a huff. "You forgot me!"

"We didn't forget- you just didn't follow when we left," Espio pointed out.

"What if you needed me, Espio? Huh? Huh? Huh? Besides, I found two crabs right after you two ditched me, so what would ya do then? Huh? Huh? Huh?"

"Why would we need you? There's nowhere to fly to!"

"Except right now," coughed Vector, pointing at a cannon that sat before them. Charmy stuck his tongue out and blew a raspberry at Espio.

"See? You were wrong!"

Espio made a face as Charmy smugly grabbed his wrists and took off, Vector grabbing on before Charmy lowered them all into the cannon. With a boom, the cannon shot them to a higher ledge, where the next crab was waiting for them. Vector grabbed it, with Espio giving him a light applause.

"C'mon- we're not done yet!" Charmy wailed, grabbing Espio once again and practically dragging him off the edge.

"Take it easy, Charmy!" shouted Vector, narrowly missing the chance to grab Espio. The three of them hobbled in the air, going slightly haywire.

"Charmy, keep yourself steady!" Espio ordered.

"I'm _trying_! Vector's sudden weight threw me off!"

"What is THAT supposed to mean?"

Vector didn't receive an answer as they crash-landed on the nearest source of land, Vector flattening another box but finding crab number nine.

"Yay! Only one more!" cheered Charmy while Espio worked on pulling his head out of the ground.

"So much for never doing that again…" groaned the chameleon. He picked himself up off the ground and trudged after Vector, shaking the dirt off his head.

. . .

Later on, Team Dark was looking quite exhausted. They were facing more robots than expected, and the path before them was a rather long one. It didn't help that Omega noticed that both Rouge and Shadow looked distracted, which he knew was hindering their skills in the field.

However, against his better robotic AI judgment, he decided not to ask about it or even bring it up. He had a feeling that it would just make things worse. Omega wouldn't have been able to anyway, since yet another pack of robots were advancing upon them.

"We're outnumbered, but they're still no match!" Shadow exclaimed as he attacked one that was approaching him.

"Okay Omega, you can throw me, but just take it easy-"

"Worthless consumer models!" Omega shouted wildly before hurling Rouge in their direction. Like a ping pong ball, Rouge ricocheted off of each of them and destroyed them all in one fell swoop. "Eggman robots must be eradicated!"

"Oh, Omega…" moaned Rouge. Shadow helped her back to her feet before running over a ramp and flying into the air. He alighted gracefully onto the next path, continuing to run without missing a beat. He took off through large loops in the path, soared over whales in the lagoon, and still never lost his momentum.

"I think I'll take it from here," Rouge said, grabbing Shadow's hands once again.

"Why? I can make those jumps up to the next area," Shadow protested.

"I know, but Omega can't."

"Eggman has neglected to give me the function to fly."

"…I see."

This time when Omega was expected to be lifted off the ground, that didn't exactly happen right away…

"Hoo boy, I need to hit a gym 24/7 if I wanna lift Omega up!" Rouge groaned, straining as she did so.

"Rouge, you've done it before, what's keeping you from doing so now?" Shadow asked.

"Reality," huffed Rouge, falling to the ground and bringing Shadow and Omega with her.

"My metal frame is not that dense," Omega said simply. Rouge gave him a long look.

"Remember when we discussed you weighing a ton?"

"…there may be some truth behind your claim after all…"

"I-I'm sure I can lift you again Omega," Rouge assured. "I just, uh…need to not think about it. Okay, flight formation!"

Rouge jumped up and took Shadow's hands again. She flew up a little higher, trying not to think about Omega and to just focus on flying.

"Um… Omega grab on yet?" Rouge asked nervously.

"He grabbed on as soon as you jumped," Shadow pointed out. "And we're already at the top, so we're good now."

"Great."

Rouge lurched forward, sending Shadow and Omega skidding face first along the ground. Rouge yelped and quickly pulled Shadow and Omega up, followed by intensely dusting them off.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Don't hurt me!"

"It was an accident, Rouge," Shadow muttered, brushing dirt out of his ear. "Why would I hurt you?"

"Um…you give off that sort of vibe?"

Shadow gave her a questioning look while Omega's head spun around a few times before stopping.

"Functions are still fully operational. We are good to go."

Rouge nervously scratched the back of her head as Shadow took the lead again –after all, he was the only one who could get them out of there fast enough, and they already weren't making too much progress.

Shadow pushed off from a spring, just about flying over the sea. He spun through a group of rainbow loops before landing back on his feet. It wasn't long before he was bounding from wall to wall, stylishly working his way between the cliffs. He trashed any robots that happened to get in his way, to the disappointment of Omega.

Omega did get his chance to shine when the ground was surrounded by obstacles in their way, the robot crushing anything in their path with ease. Shadow decided to hang back and let Omega run the show for a bit- if only for just a little while.

"Omega! Do your thing and attack them!" Rouge cried as robots surrounded them. Shadow looked oddly thoughtful as Omega fired up his flamethrowers.

"They seem really keen on taking us out, huh? But why?"

"Well, it's not like a treasure thief broke into Eggman's base and "stole" a hedgehog in suspended animation and a killer robot that was designed to guard said hedgehog," Rouge replied with a shrug.

Omega kept up his good work by using Rouge to bash down obstacles in the path, with Shadow smacking his forehead several times in the process. Unnecessary by all means, but it got the job done.

. . .

Several moments later, back with Knuckles and Tails, they had finally found Sonic, but only because he was in the middle of a fight against five or so robots. Tails gasped and instantly looked worried.

"Sonic might be in trouble!" he cried. Knuckles just gave him a look.

"This is Sonic we're talking about, remember?"

"Yeah, I know…but we could at_ least_ help him out before he runs off again!"

"He's going to pay for that, by the way," Knuckles replied before nose-diving out of the sky and straight into a robot that was standing behind Sonic, getting ready to fire. Sonic turned at the sudden commotion, but was quickly smacked away by the robot he was currently confronting. Before the Egg Pawn managed to get another strike in, Tails came in and kicked it in the back of the head, briefly discombobulating it. Knuckles then came in and split it in half with one fatal punch. Sonic picked himself up off the ground and swept the third robot's legs out from under it.

"Well, you two chose a good time to come back," Sonic chuckled, kicking the fourth one down for Knuckles to crush.

"We would've been back sooner, but someone was enjoying their alone time," Knuckles retorted as he attacked the final one with Tails. Sonic scratched the back of his head.

"Sorry 'bout that. It won't happen again, I promise."

"Yes it will," Knuckles said with a sure sigh.

"But Sonic always keeps his promises, right Sonic?" Tails asked, turning to the hedgehog. Sonic nodded.

"That is a definite guarantee, my friend!"

Knuckles just rested his forehead in his palm as the three of them, together once again, took off into more of the area. It was one thing to find Sonic- it was another to keep alongside him. Knuckles and Tails, the former more so than the latter, were really pushed to their limit to stay even behind Sonic. Sonic, on the other hand, wanted to just bolt forward, but he kept his word and stayed at a steady pace so he wouldn't lose his friends again.

"Hey, check that out!" Tails gasped as they ran into a clearing. Sonic and Knuckles glanced up to see two whales springing out of the water, brushing by each other, and splashing back into the water. "How majestic!"

"Eh, whales and I don't get along very well…" Sonic trailed as he ran off a ramp and took off into the air. "And I have the same relationship with large killer trucks."

They landed on a small island in the crystal water, home to only a few palm trees and a cannon. Sonic grinned instantly, and Knuckles didn't even need to see the look on his face to figure out what he was thinking.

"Nuh uh. No way."

"Well how else are we going to get off this little isle?" Sonic asked, folding his arms.

"Tails can fly us over there," Knuckles suggested. Tails violently shook his head.

"With one person I could make that distance with no problem, but not with two!"

Knuckles thought it over again then grinned sinisterly at Sonic. "We could always swim across-"

"Out of the question! You take the dangerous way, and I'll take the safe way!"

"How is a cannon safer than a quick swim?"

"It just_ is_," Sonic insisted, pulling Knuckles into the cannon after unknowingly grabbing his arm.

"Hey wait a second!"

Tails shrugged and jumped in too, and within a few moments the trio went streaking through the air.

"Whee!" shouted Tails, throwing up his hands.

"This is so cool!" cried Sonic.

"You're totally crazy!" Knuckles wailed, flailing his arms on the way down. Sonic alighted back on the ground without any problems, Tails flew himself back to the ground, and Knuckles ended up with a crash landing thanks to his arm failing.

"Never…again…" he grumbled, despite the fact he knew that no one was going to listen to him.

. . .

"Ooh, a beach!" Big exclaimed as he surveyed the surroundings. Amy chuckled.

"Well, they don't call it Seaside Hill for nothing!"

They cruised around the beach, with Big stepping on any crab-like robots that happened to be scuttling around. However, their beach traversing didn't last long, because they located a cannon of their own. Before Cream could protest, Amy had jumped into it, with Big following whatever Amy did. Cream frowned a bit, but didn't say anything against it as she climbed in as well. Within three seconds, Team Rose was shot through the air, not stopping until they landed towards the top of a hill.

After dusting themselves off, Amy looked thoughtful.

"Hmm…maybe if we get to higher ground, we'll be able to see Sonic from here!"

"Or Chocola!" "Or Froggy!"

"Them too!" Amy called back, more focused on getting to somewhere high. They reached the top of the hill in record time, but Amy still sought out someplace higher. She took her team down a path that skimmed over the ocean, bouncing from springs and working their way to the other side.

"I see a really good spot over there!" Amy exclaimed, pointing frantically forward.

"I don't see anything…" Cream trailed, but as usual, Amy didn't hear her.

. . .

Eventually Team Dark came to a slightly ruined area surrounded completely by ocean. Rouge thought the sight was breathtaking.

"Ah, so natural…"

"I'll take it from here," Shadow told Omega before barreling over a ramp. "Just watch this!"

He shot down the path like a bullet, his speed causing waves to rise but luckily not crash down on his team. Rouge laughed a little, but this didn't last long when Shadow had stopped at another high up ledge. Frowning, Rouge glanced at Omega and sighed.

"I guess I'm up."

"Just do what you did before," Shadow said bluntly, taking Rouge's wrists as she flew him up.

"Yeah, but it's so weird to not think about Omega while flying…I mean, when a really heavy robot is dangling from someone whose dangling from you, you think you'd notice their weight, but if you really focus then you don't! How DOES that work! Seriously-"

"Rouge, you can let go now."

"You see what I mean?"

"No and I never will," Shadow retorted, taking the lead once again. Rouge made a brief face but wasted no time in following after the current leader. The three of them whisked down the path and entered a building, quickly working their way through its crooked halls.

. . .

After their canon endeavor, Team Sonic eventually reached the edge of a cliff, which they needed to climb. Knuckles started to jam his fists into the side of the wall, but Sonic apparently had other plans…

"Remember when I said I prefer to work alone?" Knuckles grunted a few moments later as Tails carried an upside down Sonic who was grabbing Knuckles' wrists.

"Yeah, well, you're not alone at the moment, so we don't have to worry about that," Sonic said with a grin. "…how'd I end up upside down anyway?"

"You did a front flip to pull Knuckles out of the wall and then I grabbed your ankles," Tails replied quickly.

"…that might not have been my best maneuver- I think blood is rushing to my head."

Knuckles just kept snickering until they reached their destination, with Tails gently setting Knuckles on the ground and Knuckles tossing Sonic off of him.

"Oomph! There was an easier way you could've done that!"

Knuckles just shrugged, trying to contain his grin. "Sorry, it just didn't occur to me…"

"This is gonna be a long trip…" Tails groaned as Sonic and Knuckles raced off while bickering.

Later on, just after Sonic and Knuckles stopped debating for the time being, Sonic located the weirdest looking contraption he'd ever laid eyes on, and asked Tails what it could possibly be.

"Looks like some sort of…car, maybe?" Tails deduced, observing it from all angles.

"Well, it has nothing to do with us, so let's just keep going," Knuckles stated, starting to walk off.

"C'mon! You gotta stop neglecting to try new things!"

"Well you have to stop thinking up new dangerous stunts!"

Sonic didn't respond- instead, he pushed Knuckles to the front of the contraction, with Tails grabbing his shoulders.

"Let's see what this thing can do!"

"SONIC!" was all Knuckles could get out before Sonic curled up into ball form and placed himself at the back of the contraption, working like a wheel. As soon as he starting spinning, the mobile started moving, Tails started cheering, and Knuckles started hanging on for dear life.

"This is worse than the cannon!" yelped the echidna.

"I think it's fun!" Tails disagreed, using Knuckles to steer their ride away from the unprotected cliff edges.

"You're starting to sound just like him…"

The ride went thundering down the hill, using gravity, momentum, and Sonic to make their way to the bottom. Knuckles was closing his eyes and wishing it was over as Tails constantly jerked his shoulders left and right. The group hit a bump in the road, sending their little cart into the air, followed by an abrupt stop thanks to a wall. Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles went flying out of the machine, but the three of them managed to maintain their balance while in the air.

"We are so lucky," Knuckles said, putting emphasis on the last word.

"There was nothing to worry about," Sonic added, smirking.

"Hmph, easy for you to say."

Team Sonic was still a bit shaken up after the car ride, or at least only Knuckles was, but they still kept pushing on anyway…

…even when robots caused bombs to fall on them from the sky.

"Let me handle flying enemies, no matter how high they are!" Tails said instantly, flying up and attacking them with Thunder Shoot. As he blasted away at his sky rivals, Sonic and Knuckles careened into their airborne opponents, then once they landed back on the ground began to work on getting farther down the path, Sonic tried to run ahead to check out their surroundings, but was instantly stopped by an obstacle.

"Okay Knuckles, looks like your place of expertise," Sonic stated as he braked to a stop in front of the latest obstacle. "Just use those fists of yours to crush that block!"

"I'll use my fists all right," Knuckles grunted as he trudged up to Sonic and the block. Without any warning, he scooped up Sonic, forcing him into ball form, and throwing him at the block. It shattered instantly, with Sonic standing back up and glaring at Knuckles.

"What was that?"

"The power of friendship, Sonic," Knuckles replied, starting to run off.

"Hey! You can't just slam dunk me into a concrete block and think you'll get away with it!"

Tails watched as Sonic chased after Knuckles, only able to smack his forehead after witnessing the display.

. . .

They didn't get very far when the Chaotix found several ledges sticking out of the side of the cliff…that only Charmy could get them up to.

"There's gotta be another way…" Espio thought, mulling it over. Vector shook his head.

"Not really, Espio…"

"And you thought I wasn't going to be useful," scoffed Charmy as he marched up next to Espio and struck a pose. Espio rolled his eyes.

"Just fly us up there."

Charmy shrugged and whisked Espio and Vector upwards, both of them hanging on like their lives depended on it. Once they actually had a good landing for once, Vector found their last crab.

"Well what do you know?"

The client sounded very pleased on the other side of the walkie talkie. "Good job! Mission complete!"

"Awesome! Totally awesome!"

"Hard to believe we barely made it through that mission in hardly one piece…" mused Espio. "I can only imagine what else our client will have us do?"

"We weren't in any danger of failing at all, Espio!" Charmy assured with a cheeky grin. Espio turned to Charmy and raised an eyebrow.

"Oh really? And why not?"

"Because I've had the other ten crabs the whole time! See?"

Charmy whipped out ten crabs without even thinking, causing Espio and Vector's jaws to drop instantly.

"You had those the whole time? !"

"Heh Heh….maybe I shoulda told you…but that's what happens when you leave me behind!"

When the bee noticed Espio and Vector still glaring at him, he flew away at breakneck speed, dropping the ten crabs onto his teammates. The crabs apparently did not like that, for they started snapping away at anything they could get their claws on.

"ARGH, CHARMY!" Espio wailed, running around while smacking at the crabs throwing themselves at him.

"He better hope we don't catch up with him!" Vector growled, folding his arms as one crab dangled off the edge of his snout. "He'll regret this…"

. . .

"So, how much longer do we have to go on for?" Knuckles asked, almost trudging as he ran.

"You mean with this area, or this adventure in general? Because we just started…" Tails explained.

"I mean the area…"

"Why? What's the rush?" asked Sonic, practically skipping from platform to platform as they made their way over the small ruined area. They were a little too close to the water for Sonic's liking, but with another thought he realized that it could've been worse.

"That's coming from the guy who runs everywhere," Knuckles retorted, but dropped the subject afterward. They continued to move along with the path beneath them. Glancing down, any one of them would notice that there was nothing between them and the sea, except for the very path.

And subconsciously, this was a fact that Sonic knew all too well.

"Whoa, now THAT is a wonder of nature!" Tails gasped as he looked on ahead.

"What? What is it?" wondered Knuckles.

"There's an island shaped like a whale!"

"Sweet! Let's go check that out!"

"Sonic, wait-"

Sonic had already taken off before Knuckles could finish his sentence. Groaning, Knuckles followed him, with Tails grinning to himself as he trailed after.

If you saw them from any other angle, they would be nothing but streaks of red, yellow, and blue.

. . .

. Eventually, they came to the very center of the structure, where three robots and a cannon were waiting.

"I think we can use that cannon to go up!" Rouge exclaimed, looking proud of herself.

Shadow and Omega were currently engaged in heated combat, but still had enough time to gawk at her and say, "Really?"

"Whatever! I was just telling you guys!" she scoffed, jumping into it and waiting for them to do so as well. Eventually Shadow and Omega climbed in as well, and the three of them skyrocketed into the air.

"Minus gravity detected," Omega informed them as they soared toward their next destination.

"Whatever that means," Shadow muttered under his breath.

"We've gotta be close!" Rouge called while running at her fastest.

"What makes you say that?" asked Shadow.

"Call it a treasure hunter's intuition!"

"Close to what, if this is information I can acquire?" questioned Omega. Rouge shrugged.

"Just the end of this area. It means we're another step closer to Eggman!"

"And we've got a long way to go…" mumbled Shadow. The trio came to another herd of robots, and Shadow felt his fist clench. "Useless heaps of metal!"

"I'll annihilate them all!" Omega said quickly, firing all of his weapons…which included Rouge.

"Can all you two think about is destroying things and looking for information?" Rouge inquired with an annoyed tone.

"What else are an amnesiac hedgehog and a killer robot going to think about?" Shadow shot back, taking off once again.

"I dunno…it's all just a bit too much!"

"You're the one that wanted a team," Shadow pointed out, glancing over his shoulder. "You should have known what to expect!"

Rouge shamefully stared at the ground and frowned. "I just didn't want to-"

"Sensors indicate another life form heading for a whale shaped island," Omega announced. "Location could hold clues to our next objective."

"Well, let's just head there then," Rouge answered, not bothering to finish her statement.

Shadow, meanwhile, just looked over the edge of the cliff they were standing on. That same blue blur was racing towards that island…but it wasn't alone. Dashing alongside it was what Shadow could only make out as red and yellow specks, but he was going to find out just who they were. They probably weren't significant to him, but that blue speed demon…now he was something that Shadow wanted to see for himself.

"Let's not waste any more time," Shadow finally said, jumping off the edge and following after the primary colored trio. Rouge and Omega found no place to object, so they took off after Shadow without a word.

. . .

Well, once Team Rose reached their- er, Amy's destination, Amy was scouring the area like a pirate. Cream was comforting a still worried Cheese, while Big sat on the edge of the structure they were standing on and thought about Froggy.

"Find anything useful yet, Amy?" Cream asked for the fifth time.

"Not yet…but something's bound to pop up!"

"That's what you said the last few times…"

"But I mean it this time!" Amy suddenly cried, starting to jump up and down. "I see Sonic!"

"Does he have Froggy or Chocola?" Cream asked, straining to see as well.

"I…can't tell…I think he's with Tails and Knuckles, though," Amy stated. "Now, where are they going…?"

"It looks like they're going to that Whale Island over there!" Big exclaimed, lifting Cream onto his shoulder so she could see too. At this realization Amy threw fit.

"Aw man! At the speed they're going, we won't be able to catch up with them in time!" she wailed.

"But if we go after them now, they can't get much farther away!" Cream pointed out. Amy blinked, then jumped off the edge of the structure.

"Well in that case, what're we waiting for? Let's go get Sonic!"

Big jumped after the anxious pink hedgehog, with Cream still sitting on his shoulder. All Cream could do was sigh.

"Oh, Amy…"

At least Cream couldn't say that they _weren't_ getting anywhere.

* * *

><p><strong>As might be obvious, this was the guinea pig chapter- things get a lot smoother later on. <strong>


	3. Ocean Palace

Because We're Sonic Heroes

Chapter 2: Ocean Palace

"Hey, do you know anything about this place, Tails?" Sonic asked as Team Sonic explored the area around the whale island. Tails looked thoughtful for several moments before snapping his fingers.

"I think this place is Ocean Palace!"

"A sea palace?" Knuckles asked, taking the first step into the area. Tails nodded.

"Yeah…I don't know much about it, but it's been ruined by the crashing waves and is very unstable in some parts…we'll have to be quick if we want to get out of here before the ground literally falls from under our feet!"

"Heh, then what are you worried about?" Sonic chuckled, already bounding his way through. "We'll be outta here in no time!"

"Don't think it'll be easy," Knuckles warned. "Eggman's robots are here too!"

"That just means we're getting close to him!"

Before Knuckles or Tails could inform Sonic of anything else, he took off into the wind with a joyous cry, leaving his team no choice but to follow him through the ruined palace. The path to the entrance was quite lengthy, and definitely made just for Sonic, with the twists and turns it took and large loops here and there.

"Knuckles, can you open the door for us?" Tails asked, once their rollercoaster rush was over with. Knuckles winded up his arm, then barreled his fist into the stone door, causing it to explode into several pieces.

"No problem," Knuckles said with a smirk. Sonic poked his head in and broke into his casual eager grin.

"Looks like we've got our work cut out for us!"

"Who knows what we'll see!" Tails exclaimed just as eagerly, bolting in after Sonic. Knuckles was left in the doorway, looking dazed, before shaking it off and running after his teammates.

. . .

"An ancient civilization established on the sea…" Shadow trailed, trying not to lose track of the blur. What purpose did they have for being here? Were they after Eggman too? And if they were, then why?

"This place is really beautiful," Rouge said, interrupting Shadow's intricate train of thought.

"Primary target is Eggman! Don't forget!" Omega exclaimed. For once, Shadow agreed with the robot, and Rouge could tell by the look on his face.

"I know that- what's wrong with enjoying what's around you?"

"The fact that it causes distraction, and distraction causes delay," replied Omega. Rouge frowned a bit, but said nothing more on the matter.

Shadow had been very careful to track the blur's trail, but he didn't tell Rouge or Omega…especially Omega. They were supposed to be looking for Eggman, and the last thing Shadow wanted to do was provoke the crazed robot into shooting his head off because he was following his curiosity.

But there was just something about the blend of colors he had seen that beckoned to him- like he needed to follow. Maybe it was Eggman and he didn't know it, though he highly doubted it.

"What in the world?" Rouge gasped, stopping Omega in his tracks. Shadow jerked to a stop and raised an eyebrow.

"Yes?"

"Why's that door open?"

"You brought us to a halt for that?" Omega said in a robotic tone, though the irritancy in his tone rang loud and clear. Rouge narrowed her eyes and clenched her fists.

"Shut up! The limited bit of knowledge I have on this place says that all the doors in this place are supposed to be sealed- so why's the entrance to this place wide open?"

"Either because you were wrong or someone else barged in here," Shadow said with a shrug. "I have a slight hunch that it's the second reason."

"Oh yeah? What makes you say that?"

"I have my reasons," Shadow replied, not wasting any more time standing around. Rouge huffed and trudged after him.

"His memory's gone, but he's just as stubborn and mysterious as ever…"

. . .

"Here's your next mission," the Chaotix's client broadcasted, the team ready for whatever was about to be thrown at them. "A Chao is lost deep in that palace. "Find and rescue that Chao!"

"At least we won't be breaking our necks finding more than one object," Espio muttered while sliding a glance at Charmy. Charmy instantly caught the glance and made a face.

"Hey! If you hadn't run away from me, you would've seen me collect the crabs!"

"Whatever. Throwing the things at us was highly uncalled for."

"Yeah! I've still got the pinch marks on my nose!" Vector complained, pointing at his snout for emphasis.

"I was just trying to help!"

"Help do what, get our faces snapped right off?" huffed Espio. "C'mon, if we're going to go through with this untrustworthy client, we might as well do it well."

"I'm with Espio on this one," said Vector.

"AW, stop it you guys! Can't ya just punish me rather than give me the cold shoulder? Please?"

"We'll see, but we need to get going," Espio replied, dashing off with Vector to his side. Charmy pouted for another few useless moments before finally flying after.

The Chaotix didn't get far into the palace either before running into Eggman robots- however, this particular set of clunkers were fast asleep. Espio braked to a stop, then held his arms out to stop Vector and Charmy.

"Hey, they're asleep, so stay quiet and move slowly…"

"That means you, Charmy."

"H-"

"Shhh," both Vector and Espio hissed, now resorting to clamping their hands over the bee's mouth and pulling him along. Espio was already adequately trained in stealth situations like these, so his footsteps weren't even heard, but Vector on the other hand…

"What'd you put on your shoes, noise oil?" Espio hissed in a loud whisper.

"I polish them regularly," Vector replied, slightly louder. "At least I keep mine looking nice."

"Yeah? We'll they're a hazard to the mission!"

"Charmy is a hazard to the mission, but we bring him anyway!"

Charmy started going berserk in Espio and Vector's grip, fidgeting so much that Vector couldn't take it anymore and snapped, "Whaddya doing? ! _Be quiet!"_

That did it for the robots- they snapped to attention, and once the Chaotix noticed, Espio took the lead, and they ran away in a flurry of flying death projectiles.

. . .

"I told you, Sonic," Knuckles grumbled, fighting crazily with his fists flying in all directions. Sonic just stood off to the side looking perplexed.

"I never said I didn't believe ya, Knux," the hedgehog shrug.

"Yeah, well who warned you not to go tromping in like you're on vacation when Egg Pawns are roaming about? UNH!"

He punched one right in half, with Sonic chuckling.

"They're Eggman's robots. They're not any more threatening than a tin can!"

To prove his point, he circled any and all robots in the area. Running at a furious pace, he eventually enveloped the machines in a blue tornado and sent them hurling into the air. Knuckles just stared at Sonic as all the robots spontaneously combusted, with their pieces raining all around Sonic. Tails whistled.

"That was sort of impressive."

Knuckles grunted and took the lead, punching through all debris than was strewn across the path. The walkway was lined with fountains in the shape of whale tails, giving the place an aquatic feel, being the Ocean Palace and all. He kept breaking his way through until he reached one thing he was unable to conquer- reaching a high up ledge.

"I could climb up there myself, but Sonic wouldn't approve of that…" he said with a bit of distain. Tails ran up to his side moments later and started to fly.

"Leave it to me!"

"As long as I'm not hanging from an upside down Sonic…" Knuckles sighed, raising his arms for Tails to grab.

"Wait for me!" Sonic suddenly called, dashing forward, grabbing Knuckles legs, and swinging the entire group forward.

"Waaah!"

"I've got it, Knuckles," Tails assured as they flew up higher. Knuckles glared down at Sonic, with the blue blur sending him a thumbs up in return.

Tails eventually set the gang at the top of the ledge, allowing Sonic to lead them onward.

"The stone pillars on both sides of the path are beginning to crumble!" Tails cried as he took his spot next to Sonic.

"They won't get us, no worries Tails," Sonic confirmed.

"Oh really?" mumbled Knuckles, impatiently tapping his hand against the ground as a pillar rested on his back. Tails yelped as Sonic curled into a ball, bounced on the ground, and threw himself at the pillar. Like a power saw, his quills sliced the pillar in two, giving Knuckles the opportunity to lift the stone columns up off of him.

"Anyway…." Knuckles trailed, brushing the stone dust off him. "Disregarding that…"

"Are you okay enough to get us up there, Knuckles?" Tails asked, pointing at a large fan on the ground blowing upwards. Knuckles glanced up, then at the fan, then back at Tails.

"Yeah, I think I can, thanks for asking."

Tails smiled and gave a small laugh. Knuckles stood on the fan and pushed off the ground, allowing the gusts of wind to catch his quills and carry him. He held out his two hands, to which Tails grabbed instantly, and both of them reached out for Sonic. Sonic sprang forward and took a grip, with the three of them starting to spin as they ascended.

"How does this work, anyway?" Sonic wondered as they made their way up.

"It's simple, really- the gust of air combined with Knuckles' muscular frame-"

"Okay Tails, I think I've got a pretty good idea of it now."

"You asked," responded Tails, letting go as he touched the ground again. "But I don't think we're quite finished with flying yet."

"I'm in the middle!" Sonic called as he jumped up and latched onto Tails. "You coming, Knuckles?"

"Yeah, just hang on," the echidna replied, punching the head of a robot clean off. Once he was finished taking care of business, he grabbed Sonic's ankles and Tails took off. They flew up to the next level, where more robots were waiting. As Sonic took care of all the metal clunkers, Knuckles jogged forward and battered down the next door.

. . .

"Wow! What a beautiful white palace!" Amy exclaimed, literally jumping into Ocean Palace through the now broken doors.

"Amy, we're not here to sightsee," Cream reminded her lightly, despite the fact her young mind was overwhelmed by the vastness of the palace as well. She hadn't seen very many things in her six years of life, so she was even more absorbed by everything she was encountering than Amy was.

However, Cream had a more reachable goal than Amy did, therefore giving her good reason to keep focus. One of those focuses happened to be on all the robots that came their way.

"There sure are a lot of bad robots here…" She gulped, backing away nervously.

"Wow, you're right," Big agreed, but demolished them quickly with his umbrella. "I wonder what they're doing here…"

"The answer is obvious," Amy replied, trying to sound intelligent. "There are robots everywhere because Eggman's trying to prepare an attack, which is why Sonic is going after him! Thus, along the way, he found Chocola and Froggy and has them with him for safe keeping! Then, he'll see us, give you guys back your friends, and then he'll be so proud of me for leading my own team that he'll fall in love and we'll get married and-"

"Amy, you had me, and you lost me," Cream interrupting, giggling nervously.

"Sorry, just ranting about mine and Sonic's near future again…let's just keep going!"

Cream sighed, but complied with her leader's order. Amy was definitely her closest friend (followed closely by Sonic and Tails), but the one thing about Amy was how she constantly droned about her love for Sonic. Cream would never even think about telling Amy that, in fear that it would ruin their friendship, but it was probably the only thing that Cream couldn't take very much.

"These pillars don't look too good," Big stated, glancing around at the structures. "We'd better watch out."

"It's like someone went through here already," Cream stated, gazing at a pillar that had been seemingly sliced right in half after it fell.

"It was probably Sonic," Amy declared. "He and his team must've already come and gone- which means we haven't totally lost them yet!"

"I hope he's treating Froggy well," said Big, ears drooping with worry. His worrying ceased for the moment when Team Rose approached a fan. Amy was complaining and wondering how they were supposed to get by when Cream spoke up.

"We can go up if we catch the current coming off that fan!" she turned to Big and smiled. "Maybe you can use your umbrella, Mr. Big?"

"I'd be happy to give it a try!"

Big lifted Cream onto his shoulder, with Amy latching onto Big before he pulled out his umbrella. Once it was open, Ceram's prediction had worked- the current miraculously brought the three to an upper area. When Big closed his umbrella, the floating stopped, and he and the girls touched down back on the ground.

"Good thinking, Cream!" Big chuckled as Cream jumped off his shoulder. Cream just shrugged.

"It just sort of came to me, I guess!"

"Well if Big could handle that, maybe he can handle this," Amy interrupted, knocking on the side of a stone door.

"Sure thing, Amy!"

With hardly any effort, Big brought the door down to pieces, smiling as Amy and Cream ran on ahead. He put away his umbrella and trotted after them. They kept going like this until Cream had worked herself into a carefree skip, closing her eyes and humming to herself. Amy just giggled to herself.

"She is so adorable sometimes!"

"Just watch where you're going, Cream!" Big called. "Remember that anything could fall at any moment!"

"I know, Mr. Big!" Cream called back without breaking her stride. However, when Amy and Big looked on ahead, a block trap was getting ready to fall, and Cream was headed right for it. Amy shrieked and started running after her friend.

"Cream, you're not paying attention!"

"Huh-"

Amy winced as she saw the block begin to descend down toward Cream, but Cream was suddenly jerked backward thanks to an invisible force…with that invisible force actually being a fishing line.

"Good thing I always carry this with me," Big sighed to himself, reeling Cream away from the danger. Amy rushed over to the rabbit, unhooked Big's fishing line, and checked her over.

"Are you all right?" she asked frantically. Cream just sat up and nodded.

"Yes, I'm fine, thanks to Big!"

Big smiled as he put his fishing pole away. "Well, I didn't want my friend getting hurt."

"You nearly gave me a heart attack!" Amy continued, now slightly scolding Cream.

"Sorry, Amy…"

"It's okay, it's over now…"

"I'll take the lead and make sure the way is clear for you two," Big decided, swapping out his fishing pole for his umbrella and made sure Amy and Cream stayed behind him. "These blocks…they sort of look like whales!"

"Well, this is Ocean Palace," replied Amy. "It's only natural that it would have some sort of sea theme…"

"I wonder how this place was built…" Cream pondered to herself, looking in all directions and making sure not to run off into trouble again. "Whoever designed it must have been quite clever!"

. . .

"Annihilation! Fire! Fire!"

"Omega, is that really necessary to shout during every takedown?"

"Affirmative. Must eradicate!"

Shadow's face was resting uncomfortably in his palm while Rouge was impatiently waiting for Omega to finish taking care of business.

"Process would go faster if teammate would readily comply to demands."

"I am not going to have you chuck me around like a tennis ball," Shadow grunted. "Feel free to use the bat, but keep your hands off me."

"Hey!" snapped Rouge, only getting a bittersweet shrug in return. "Urgh…Shadow, why do you do that?"

"Do what?"

"Be…so…frustrating!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Shadow replied coolly, only to make Rouge boil even more. "I know you want to help me get my memories back, and I thank you, but until we get there, you're just going to have to put up with me being…"frustrating". I don't know what exactly you want me to be, Rouge."

"I bet you wouldn't act that way if you knew me," Rouge retorted, whirling around and stomping off after Omega, who had finished his current extermination of robots. Shadow just stared at her until he shook his head.

"She's crazy," he grumbled, starting to jog as to not get left behind.

The dark team continued silently, Shadow mulling, Omega blasting, and Rouge taking the silence as a chance to glance around the palace. It was old and ready to come crashing down at any moment, yes, but there was no mistaking the magnificence of it all.

"Too bad there's no treasure here," Rouge sighed. "I'd steal it from this place in a heartbeat."

She took note of the cracked and crumbling pillars surrounding the path, realizing they were about to cave at any given moment. Rouge would have warned Shadow and Omega, but she figured they could handle it themselves and kept quiet. Even Shadow hardly acknowledged the pillar lying in the middle of the path, split right in two.

"Must have cracked when it landed," Omega said, and it all returned to silence. Shadow, however, knew well very that it hadn't. The place where it was split at was too smooth and too evenly divided for it to be a natural break. No, there must've been some other cause.

Rouge had been thinking the same thing, but like Shadow, she didn't bother shooting down Omega's theory.

It wasn't until they encountered their strangest puzzle yet that they finally returned to speaking.

"..a fan?" questioned Shadow, now amused in the slightest. "What are we supposed to do with this?"

"Both of you should be able to go up by using the current from that fan," Omega explained. "Get ready to use Triangle Dive."

"Triangle Dive? What the heck is-"

"Woo!" cheered Rouge, cutting Shadow off by grabbing his hand and jumping onto the current. Omega latched on at the last second, the three of them forming a triangle. Shadow was taken aback by the sudden maneuver, but who was he to complain- somehow, it worked.

. . .

"Are they…done chasing us…yet?" Vector huffed, just now realizing he was quite out of shape. Meanwhile, Espio was standing in a ninja stance looking around, hardly out of breath if even at all.

"No, I don't sense them anymore; I think we're good."

"Thank goodness!" wheezed Charmy, now flying around like nothing happened. "Let's try going up there!"

Vector stood next to Charmy and glanced up to where he was pointing. "That looks like our only option, sport. Just so long as we keep an eye out for the Chao!"

"The Chao?" Espio muttered. "Just so long as Charmy doesn't drop us like rocks again!"

"I've got you this time, Espio!" Charmy assured, taking the ninja chameleon's wrists and carrying him upwards. Vector latched on afterwards, and the three of them headed up to see what they could see. Once they could look over the side, they all gasped.

Apparently the sight of collapsed pillars took Charmy by surprise so much that he dropped Espio and Vector. While Espio facepalmed, Vector whistled.

"Wow, this place took quite a beating…"

"Maybe because the ruins were weak in this part," Charmy suggested.

"You're both partially right," Espio said after making sure nothing was broken. "The Ocean Palace is a sacred and ruined place, but the ruins would've only been brought down if someone had trampled through here themselves."

"What, are you saying we're not the only ones?" Vector asked. Espio nodded.

"Unless the evidence says otherwise…"

"But why would anyone else bother coming here?" wondered Charmy. "We're only here because we're saving a Chao!"

"Who knows? Explorers, someone looking for an ancient artifact or something…"

"Well whoever it was, they certainly let a good thing go to waste!" Vector concluded, staring at the fallen columns as they made their way through.

. . .

"Man… why is this place so bared down?" Knuckles wondered, starting to walk down the hallway he uncovered.

"I wish I knew…" Tails trailed, brushing his hand against the painted designs on the walls. Knuckles raised an eyebrow.

"There's something you don't know?"

"Hey, I don't know everything," Tails protested, spotting a robot locking onto him and using Thunder Shoot to dispatch it. "Where'd Sonic go?"

"Right here!" Sonic's exuberant voice cried, Tails and Knuckles watching as a blue streak ricocheted from wall to wall. The others wasted no time in makes tracks after him, knowing he'd get away if they lingered behind for too long. They raced down a hill, only to be abruptly stopped by fallings hunks of large stone cubes.

"This place must be trapped!" Tails exclaimed.

"I can get us through," Sonic stated, weaving and bobbing around the activated traps.

"But wouldn't it be easier just to let Knuckles break through them?"

"Maybe, but this way is faster!"

Knuckles rolled his eyes. "It's not just about speed, you know…"

Sonic's plan of just cruising through eventually came to a halt when he nearly slammed face first into a huge concrete block. Knuckles said nothing as he made his way up to the block and shattered it with a single punch. Resting behind it was another fan, to which the trio joined together with Triangle Dive once again and used it to ascend.

"Another door?" Knuckles groaned as Sonic and Tails hopped up a set of stairs leading to said door.

"Well, I find it just as much of an inconvenience as you do," Sonic said simply.

Knuckles bashed that door down as well, only to be nearly blown over as Sonic bolted by him. He blinked, followed by scowling darkly.

"Grrr…"

. . .

Team Rose continued to march through the palace, with Big busting through any doors or blocks and Cream taking the group up to higher levels. Amy was itching to get back in the lead, just to get things moving faster, to be a slight pink blur on the lookout for her blue match. But, in regards to her team, it was better for all of them to let the two lead when needed, even if it did hinder her search of Sonic.

"I wonder if Sonic ever feels like this when he's traveling with people," Amy thought to herself. "Anxious just to break away and go as fast as you can to the next place…but then again, Sonic's a guy that likes the journey, plus I do know he doesn't do too well if he's by himself for too long…"

"Hey Amy?" Cream suddenly spoke up, snapping Amy out of thoughts.

"Yea Cream?"

"Can you take the lead? Big doesn't want to run down this steep hill with him in front…"

"Oh…sure, sure," Amy agreed, already jogging to the front and taking off. "This shouldn't take too long!"

And it didn't- the sprint down the hill and an on-a-dime turn around a corner brought the three to the foot of a large set of ivory stairs, which caused Cream's eyes to sparkle with interest. She hopped up the stairs instantly, with Amy and Big following behind.

"Darn, Sonic was already here too!" Amy exclaimed, stomping her foot.

Cream stopping climbing the stairs and looked over her shoulder. "What makes you say that?"

"The door's open- Knuckles' probably bashed it down when they came through," Amy deduced. "If no one was here before us, that thing would still be sealed tight!"

"What if someone else is here besides us?" Big questioned. "That'd be very coincidental…"

"You mean besides us and Team Sonic?" Cream asked.

Big nodded. "It's just a thought…because I get this weird feeling that we're not alone…"

"Who else could possibly be here- I mean, what are the odds?" Amy countered with a shrug as she entered the open doorway.

. . .

"Wouldn't it be cool to ride the current on that fan?" Charmy asked, standing on the edge of a large fan and peering down. His face and antennas were blowing upwards with great force, which was something he clearly found entertaining. Espio rolled his eyes as he watched him while Vector was trying to figure out a way to get up past the fan- after Charmy's last crash landing, he wasn't all too eager to have his face get acquainted with the ground again.

"Hmm…I really don't know about this one," he mumbled, taking out a piece of pink gum. "Chewing bubble gum helps me think, so…"

He popped the gum in his mouth and resumed to pondering. Eventually his mind wandered off and just focused on chewing rather than the problem at hand. His gaze turned to Espio and Charmy, with Charmy surfing the current as Espio was trying to pull him out of it. Completely absent-mindedly, Vector blew a bubble, not paying attention when the bubble got caught in the current and started to carry him upwards.

It only took Espio a few moments to see Vector, causing him to let go of Charmy and snag Vector's arms. Charmy, meanwhile, managed to scramble over and latch onto Vector's tail before it was too late.

"Good thing I caught wind of this!" Charmy chuckled to himself.

"Hey, excellent move with the bubble, Vector," Espio told the crocodile, but he was too busy floundering with the fact that he was attached to a rapidly growing bubble that could pop at any given movement. "Um…Vector?"

"MMMMM HMMM DRFHHM!"

"What?"

Espio's answer was in the form of a sickening pop, followed by a sudden and rapid descent. Espio and Charmy released Vector and toppled toward the ground while Vector finally managed to release his scream…before landing on his teammates.

"Can we do that again? !" Charmy asked eagerly, emitting a groan from Espio.

"Must you ask that after every near death experience?"

"Oh man…" Vector moaned, struggling to remove the bubble gum mess from his face. "That could have gone so much better…"

"Well, you'd better take the lead- there's robots everywhere!" Charmy cried. Vector finally managed to yank the gum off his face and tossed it over his shoulder.

"Anytime you're ready!"

Vector then scooped up Espio and Charmy and hurled them both at anything in their way with gusto. Charmy cheered as he knocked over a robot in one shot, while Espio was looking less than thrilled to be bowling into a block in their way.

"Well, now we've got two ways to go," deduced Vector, standing with his arms folded. "What'll it be, boys? Up or down?"

"Down! Down! DOWN-"

"Let's see what's up there," Espio interrupted, pointing to the higher path. Charmy let out a whimper, but nevertheless carried the group upwards. Espio and Vector quickly let go before Charmy let go of them, resulting in their first time not landing face first.

"Ah, it feels so nice not to have your face rammed into the ground…"

"You guys don't trust meeeee!" Charmy wailed, throwing a fit in midair. "I wasn't gonna drop you this time, honest!"

. . .

"I'll take it from here," Rouge said, cuing the group to get into flight formation. She lifted the two over several piles of crashed debris, trying to make it to an upper ledge that was still intact. Once she did, she realized that they only went up to go down.

Actually, there was an upper path, but Shadow had wormed his way out of flight formation and into speed formation before anyone could tell him otherwise. Omega was questioning his motives, but Rouge just let it go.

After busting up several robots, a few Triangle Dives, and many complaints, it was only natural that Team Dark was starting to feel a little lost and confused.

"We need to get out of these ruins…" Rouge groaned, looking a bit tired.

"Not until we find Eggman," Shadow protested. Rouge just moaned.

"What if he's not even here? Which reminds me, why'd you bring us here to look anyway, Shadow?"

Shadow was silent, hesitant to respond, but he finally opened his mouth-

"And don't you DARE say because you have your reasons!"

Well, shoot.

"Why not come here?" asked Omega. "This particular palace could serve as a decent base of operations for the doctor, if he were to plan something in this beach region."

Shadow gestured toward Omega. "Well there you go."

Rouge just grunted in response and started trudging again. However, as she did, she noticed something sparkling to her left, lying in the grass. Unable to resist what could possibly be treasure, Rouge slunk away to investigate. To her slight disappointment, it was nothing more than a key.

"Darn," was all she said, almost planning to leave it where it was. "Hmmm…but then again, keys DO usually lead to treasure…or it just might help us in the end. But treasure is sounding pretty good right now."

So after changing her mind, Rouge picked up the key and slipped it into her pocket. Feeling satisfied, Rouge quickly spread out her wings to find Shadow and Omega. But at the rate they were all going with each other, they probably hadn't even noticed she was gone.

Luckily Rouge didn't have to search for very far or very long- the two were in the middle of what they were doing best: blowing up robots. They were duking it out at the base of the large set of stairs, which Rouge noticed an open door at the top as well.

"Whoever's messing around in here better not touch the treasure if there is any," Rouge growled to herself.

"Hey!" Shadow called, jumped up and splitting a robot into halves with nothing more than the heel of his shoe. "Are you going to stand there and scowl or you going to help us?"

"Yeah, sure, whatever," Rouge answered quickly, rushing in and bring down a robot with a kick of her own. Omega had pretty much cleaned out the clunkers all by himself, but Shadow and Rouge made sure the job got finished. That's when they finally began the ascent up the stairs. Shadow looked over his shoulder at Rouge, a smirk trying its best not to be evident.

"Are you going to question why this door is open, Rouge?"

Rouge knew he was only joking (heaven forbid), but still couldn't bring herself to smile back.

"No," she replied, hoping that would suffice the black hedgehog. Shadow blinked, not expecting such a response, especially when he was actually being lighthearted, but shook it off and return to scowling.

"Hmph, fine."

. . .

Team Sonic rushed through the rest of the palace, eventually sprinting over a ramp that catapulted them to a group of huge turtles.

"They've got blocks on their backs!" Sonic realized as soon as they landed.

"I wonder where they're going…" Knuckles pondered, watching them all slowly wade through the ocean.

"Only one way to find out!" cheered Tails as he jumped into a cannon conveniently placed on the block of their turtle. Sonic happily acquiesced, while Knuckles only followed because there was no other way to get off the turtle. Taking to the sky, the three of them landed on a turtle in the distance, but they were still nowhere near land.

"I guess we gotta keep shooting ourselves out of cannons," Sonic concluded as he looked on the back of other turtles- they all had cannons as well.

"Sonic, do something about this robot's shield, will you?" Knuckles called, interrupting Sonic's train of thought. Sonic looked over his shoulder to see Knuckles swatting at a robot, only to be completely denied any strike by the shield that it held. Giving Knuckles a thumbs up without turning around, Sonic suddenly veered to the right and spiraled around the robot. Knuckles was blown away, and if Tails hadn't grabbed his wrist, he'd be a snack for the whales. Sonic did take care of the shield- but also the robot while he was at it.

"There ya go, Knuckles!"

"Gee, thanks," the echidna grumbled, dangling precariously over the edge and gripping Tails.

"Wow, I take out the robot while you plan to go for a swim? I can't believe this!"

"SONIC-"

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding!"

"Let's just get in the cannon…"

Knuckles grabbed Sonic, tossed him into the cannon, then jumped in himself. Tails just shook his head.

"Not again…"

. . .

Later on, with Espio as the leader, the Chaotix had covered decent ground through the ruins, but hadn't made any progress in locating the lost Chao. Charmy was still a bit sore about the last flight experience, but Vector and Espio refused to say anymore on the subject. The trio remained surprisingly silent until they approached another fan. Charmy instantly snapped out of his funk while Vector suddenly looked apprehensive.

"Uh, maybe we should head back and go the other way-"

"Just use your bubble, Vector," Espio said bluntly, looking a bit impatient.

"But I don't want it blowing up in my face! Literally!"

"Well you certainly don't want me carrying you up there," Charmy huffed, arms folded and trying to look serious. Of course, this failed because he had stolen a piece of Vector's gum, and it was hard to take a six-year-old seriously when they were chewing gum and looking quite ridiculous with their arms folded in the air.

"Ugh, fine…" Vector caved in, tossing a piece into his mouth and chewing rapidly. When he blew a bubble big enough, Espio and Charmy grabbed on and the three of them took off. This time, when the bubble popped, Espio and Charmy were ready for landing while Vector spat the gum out before it backfired on him.

"Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! Flower!" Charmy suddenly chirped, flying up a flight of stairs and locating said flower. Vector and Espio caught up to him afterwards and exchanged glances.

"What's so special about that flower?" Espio asked. Charmy shrugged.

"I have no idea."

Vector fell over while Espio smacked his forehead. However, just because Charmy didn't know what it could do didn't mean it didn't do anything at all. He flew over and gave the flower a tap, and to his surprise, the purple flower opened up. It let out a bright blue glow, which absorbed the Chaotix in nothing more than a quick flash.

"…what the heck just happened?" Espio groaned, sprawled out along the ground.

"I think that flower warped us somewhere…" Charmy concluded, looking around eagerly. "It looks like we're still at the palace though."

"But where in the palace?" wondered Vector. "And more importantly, did we miss the Chao?"

"I don't think so- I think I hear something toward the top of this structure…" Espio walked over to the wall of the structure and listened carefully. "Yup, I hear something up there. I can't tell if it's the Chao or not, but it might be a lead at the very least."

"Right, let's head on up," Vector agreed, already ready with a piece of gum. Using their previous maneuver, the three of them worked their way up to the top, relying heavily on the fans to take them there. However, Vector had to quickly abort the bubble as soon as he heard voice.

"Quick, hide in there!" he cried, pointing to a convenient hiding place to their left. They ducked in there, but Charmy couldn't help but poke his head out to see who it was.

. . .

When they landed on the next turtle, Team Sonic was unanimously glad to see that their next means of escape was in the form of a ramp rather than yet another cannon. Sonic blew off the robots lingering around and just pressed on. He was propelled off the ramp, soaring for a limited time before touching down on the next turtle. Knuckles took the lead and bulldozed through the small robot army, clearing the way through for Sonic and Tails.

"Well, now we know where the turtles were headed for," Sonic stated as they entered the next part of the palace ruins. "Question is, why?"

"Maybe it's just their migration pattern," suggested Tails, who was just trying to keep up with Sonic's hyperactivity. Knuckles was having less success- he could keep a decent pace with Sonic, but when it came to spring jumping and wall leaping, he wasn't so lucky. He did manage to get a break when they approached another fan.

"Triangle Dive time," The echidna said. The trio all jumped up simultaneously and joined together, ascending once more.

"Pretty cool," Sonic admitted upon landing. "Too bad that move can't get us to the top of this thing."

"Why do we need to get to the top?" Tails asked as they assumed flight formation.

"Why not? We won't get anyway if we go forward- there's nothing but ocean up ahead!"

"What could possibly be waiting for us at the top, though?" Knuckles wondered.

"Guess we'll find out when we get there," Tails replied. He glanced to his right, thinking he had seen something staring at him, but shook off the feeling and continued the ascent. "We should probably escape from here as soon as possible though…"

. . .

It was none other than Team Sonic, but Charmy couldn't register that in time because Vector pulled him back into the shadows.

"Do you want whoever that is to see you?" Vector snapped.

"The mission could have been very easily compromised!" Espio added.

"I was just curious- you never know who you might run into!"

"Well, anyway, I think we're in the clear," Espio confirmed, crawling out of hiding. "We can resume the search."

"Thank goodness," said Vector as he stepped out into the open. "Okay, let's get to the top of this thing and see if we can find that Chao."

"Got it!" Charmy cried, grabbing Espio and bring the team up to the top with no more interferences.

. . .

"Look at all the huge turtles!" Cream squealed in delight as Team Rose found their way to the turtle group as well. "Swimming like that looks like fun!"

"You think Froggy and Chocola were taken this way?" wondered Big, looking into the water. "I wanna find Froggy and go fishing!"

"I'm sure Sonic went this way," Amy answered, approaching a cannon. "It looks like this cannon is the only way to get off this thing…"

"Is that really such a good idea?" Cream asked her as she eyed the cannon nervously. Cheese suddenly started chirping, which didn't ease Cream's spirits anymore. "Even Cheese is unsure about it!"

"Do you see any other way to get ahead?"

"No, not really…"

"Then let's get in!"

Amy jumped into the cannon without another thought, with Cream flying and swinging Big into the cannon before climbing in herself. The three were then blasted onto the back of another turtle, which had another cannon resting on its back. After blasting off from that one, the next turtle had a spring to get to the next one, which the group bounced off of as soon as they spotted it.

"Aaah! This one's got robots!" Cream cried, instantly landing in the middle of a group. She glanced around for Amy or Big, but they were already occupied in battling robots that were attacking them. Now slightly intimidated, the robots approached Cream with weapons whirling and ready to go, and Cream did the first of two things.

She threw Cheese and clonked the first robot in the head. While it was momentarily dazed, she whirled around and kicked the second robot in the shin. This didn't do anything to harm the robot, naturally, but when it started to attack Cream, the newly added dent in its leg prevented it from going forward and resulting in it crashing to its side.

Cream didn't even bother watching its defeat- she was too busy fighting off the first robot.

"Cheese, to your left, look out!" she ordered, and her loyal Chao veered to the right to avoid the punch coming from the opposite side. Now that the robot was distracted with its failure to hit Cheese, Cream came up from behind him and shoved him down. With finished, she turned back to Amy and Big, who were applauding her efforts. She smiled back, and the way was finally clear for the three to get by.

"Taking down those mean robots was easier than I thought!" Cream exclaimed as she carried the group to a higher ledge, more to herself than to them, however.

"They really aren't that bad to take care of- they're just nothing but a nuisance!" Amy huffed stubbornly.

Cream placed Big on the ground, with Big doing the same with Amy. Amy landed carefully, then took a few steps forward and tried to look. Big, meanwhile, was glancing around the area himself.

"Ugh, I don't see Sonic at all! Maybe we did lose him…"

"Well think of it this way," Cream stated, being the friend that she was. "Eggman's around here, right? If we seek out him, maybe we'll find Sonic, Froggy, and Chocola too!"

"Excellent idea, Cream!" Amy declared, already stalking off. "At least Eggman is a heck of a lot easier to track down than Sonic!"

As Cream and Big followed the over anxious Amy, Big couldn't help but think that maybe Sonic wasn't the only one going after Eggman- after all, he was a pretty big villain, and it wouldn't be surprising if other people had their own reasons for tracking the doctor down.

. . .

Through the doors led Team Dark out to an area that was simply breathtaking- sparkling waters, huge turtles, and a rainbow painting the sky. Rouge whistled at the sight, but she was more interested in the swimming animals.

"Where are those huge turtles going?"

"Numerous Eggman robots detected. Prepare attack mode!"

Rouge stared at Omega as Shadow investigated around the turtle's back. The only way off was via cannon, and he was not looking forward to that endeavor.

"Too bad I can't teleport or something," Shadow sighed, climbing into the cannon and calling his teammates. Rouge and Omega jumped in instantly, only to be shot out without warning.

"Isn't there usually a countdown or something?" Rouge yelped, not liking the feeling of free falling.

"Calm down, we'll be fine," Shadow murmured, spiraling through loops and landing on the back of another turtle. Omega tore through the lingering robots on that turtles back, followed by Shadow bounding off a spring and heading to yet another's back.

"This one's full of robots!" Rouge yelped.

"But it looks like some were demolished before I could get to them," Omega grumbled, staring at fallen robots with envy. Shadow looked beyond the mass of robots, and he could've sworn he'd seen someone looking back at him. He blinked and looked again, but the eyes he had seen had disappeared.

"Peculiar," he mumbled, but said nothing more as he punched out a robot without even looking.

. . .

"For goodness' sake, what doesn't need to be broken in this place?" Knuckles whined, breaking down five collapsing traps in a row.

"I don't know, but I'd prefer if you used your fists instead of me," Sonic muttered, sounding impatient while resting in Knuckles' palm. Knuckles resisted the urge to smirk, but the temptation was too great.

"Your head is more effective than my fist, however, so I think you'll be my main combat weapon."

"Aw, why can't you use Tails?"

"Say what? !"

"Sorry, lil' bro. I think Knux here is bent on giving me some sort of brain damage."

"You don't need my help for that," Knuckles scoffed, promptly rolling the hedgehog onto the ground. Sonic grumbled something under his breath before taking the lead and forcing Tails and Knuckles into speed formation. They ran on like this until Knuckles and Tails sensed rumbling, and Tails dared to look over his shoulder.

He blanched.

"U-u-uh, Sonic…?"

"Yeah, Tails?"

"Can you f-feel the rumbling?"

"What rumbling?"

"The rumbling from the giant wheel getting ready to crush us!" Knuckles wailed instantly.

"You guys are probably trying to get me back for unintentionally leaving you earlier."

"Trust me Sonic, I'm still plotting sweet revenge for that, but it'll never happen if I'm a flattened pancake!"

Sonic turned around to counter that, but then caught the huge wheel chasing them down, with its large shadow casting over them. Yelping, Sonic grabbed Tails' and Knuckles' wrists and bolted.

"Looks like this place has one last surprise for us, eh?"

"Yeah, just a surprise," Knuckles hissed, devoid of any and all humor. Sonic ignored his no-nonsense demeanor and just focused on getting them all out of there. Tails was constantly shouting that it was coming their way while Sonic told him that he was trying to get them out of the way. The rock was even able to chase them through a loop!

"We couldn't even lose it with the loop!" a distraught Tails cried. "This is bad!"

"Remember when I said I was chased by killer whales and killer trucks?" Sonic asked. "This is nowhere near as stressful or as fun, but hey, giant killer wheel is still going on the list!"

"Great to know that your list of things out to crush you is getting longer, Sonic," Knuckles grunted.

"AUGH! There's two rocks now!" Tails shouted, going crazy and pointing frantically at the second stone wheel.

"What? !" Knuckles yelped in an uncharacteristic high pitched cry. "Looks like its buddy has joined the party…!"

"As long as they don't have saws or teeth I'm still fine!" Sonic chuckled. "Finally something interesting!"

"Well get interested in saving our butts!" Knuckles barked.

"Fine, but you two better not let go!"

"Got it," Sonic's teammates chirped simultaneously.

"Then let's blast through with Sonic Speed!"

"Oh no-" was all Knuckles could groan before Sonic "blasted off with Sonic speed". The boom that emitted around them was enough to careen the rocks into the ocean. Knuckles and Tails, meanwhile, were hanging onto Sonic's wrists with both hands. Their feet weren't even touching the ground, and from a humorous point of view, they sort of looked like red and yellow flags flailing in the wind.

"Please…tell me…we're safe…now…" Knuckles tried to say, but his speech was hindered by the harsh wind slapping at his cheeks.

"Well, the rocks are gone, so I'd assume so. But if we keep going at this speed we'll cover more ground and hopefully find Eggman faster!"

"Sonic, as a friend I completely respect your decision and your love for speed, but I'd like to keep my arms attached to my body if you don't mind," Tails responded.

"Just wait until we get to more level ground, then I'll slow down, promise!"

Knuckles and Tails both gave one last protest, but it was futile- Sonic wasn't going to change his mind.

. . .

Once Team Dark had taken care of their robotic encounter, they found their way away from the herd of turtles and into the deeper parts of the ruins. Rouge turned around and watched the turtles slowly make their way to their destination until Shadow tugged her away.

"Sorry, got distracted, gotta focus on finding Eggman," she instantly said in a slur. Shadow just shrugged.

"Omega's the one crazed about Eggman. Eggman isn't the only place I can get answers on who I am."

"Yeah, that is true…" Rouge agreed, looking slightly guilty. Part of her wanted to just spew out everything she knew about Shadow right then and there…but then again, if she did that, would that mean anything to Shadow if he couldn't even recall it all?

"I wish there was something more I could do," she said truthfully.

Shadow nodded. "I know…but I do wonder- why? You just met me and suddenly you're all about helping me out. Just…why?"

"…I have my reasons," Rouge said, walking away with a wink. Shadow blinked, then smirked to himself.

"She's crazy."

. . .

Team Chaotix, meanwhile, had to come to realize Espio's hunch had been right- the Chao was sitting in the middle of the cage, perched on a platform. Robots surrounded the area, and the team knew they couldn't free the Chao without taking out all the foes scattered around.

"Do you think the people we avoided are behind this?" Espio pondered aloud.

"Actually, I don't think so…" Charmy admitted. "There's Eggman robots everywhere here, so it's more likely that Eggman's behind this."

"Unless that WAS Eggman we narrowly avoided," the chameleon pointed out.

"Regardless, we need to save that Chao!" Vector exclaimed. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

Espio's eyes suddenly widened. "No…you must be kidding…."

Several seconds later-

A torrent of terrible sounds emitted from the Chaotix's instruments. Espio had a samisen, a Japanese guitar, Charmy had a small drum, and Vector, unfortunately, had the" wonderful" sound of his voice. Though in retrospect, Vector had more of a deranged wail rather than an actual song in mind. Together, their Chaotix Recital blew the audience to pieces.

Literally.

" Do, DOO!" "Bee bee bee, Charmy Bee!" "RAAAAAAAGH!"

Needless to say, the robots didn't stand a chance, and rumors are that poor Chao went deaf.

"Truly amazing! Hah ha ha," Vector chuckled.

"Uh, yeah, okay," Espio lied, tossing the instrument over his shoulder. "So, how do we free the Chao?"

"Like this!" Charmy exclaimed, flying over and bashing the drum on the cage.

The drum broke rather than the cage.

"Okay, maybe not…"

"This is how ya do it, boys," Vector scoffed, walking over and slamming his fist onto the cage.

The cage broke rather than his fists.

While Vector struck a pose and Charmy pouted, Espio picked up the Chao and told their client their mission was complete.

"You were perfect!" the client exclaimed in return. Espio started to respond, but Vector snagged the walkie talkie and took over.

"The work of professionals!"

While Espio and Vector started fighting over the communications, Charmy looked out over the sea and saw a single road. He tilted his head, noticing a blend of red, yellow, and blue heading down that very road. A few meters away, he noticed what looked like two girls and a large purple cat trailing after them.

"What's going on down there?"

He leaned forward to get a closer look, only to nearly flip over at the sight.

"Is that Dr. Eggman? !" the bee shrieked.

Espio, Vector, and the client all seemed to stop chattering , with the Chaotix snapping their heads to Charmy. He was flailing around on the ground, hardly able to contain himself.

"Eggman's over there, and I think some people are going after him!"

"What people?" Vector grunted, tossing the talkie into Espio's possession. He headed over to where Charmy was peering over the edge and whipped out his binoculars.

Sure enough, Eggman was patrolling the area. However, what really caught Vector's eye was his pursuers.

They had only been visible for a few precious seconds, but it was long enough for Vector to identify them.

"It's Sonic! SONIC!" Vector wailed, just about dropping his binoculars. "We've got to beat him to Eggman! No way can we let him steal the glory once again!"

"You almost sounded like Amy there until the end," Espio scoffed. "Why go down there? Eggman is none of our business?"

"This could be the chance to steal the spotlight from Sonic and his crew and give it to well-deserving people like us!"

"But more importantly," the client began, voice crackling in Espio's hand. "He's got something planned, and whatever it is needs to be put to a stop!"

"I thought Eggman stopped being evil? "Charmy asked. "That's what I heard! Sonic made him change for good!"

As Vector mocked Charmy, the client continued. "Well, if he's patrolling around these ruins and locking up innocent Chao, then he must be up to something! Hurry, get moving!"

"C'mon! We need to beat Sonic!" Vector exclaimed, leaping off the edge and grabbing Charmy.

"Fat chance of that," scoffed Espio, but he joined his team nevertheless as Charmy took them to their destination…

. . .

Team Dark was in slightly better spirits as they ascended up the particular structure. They used Triangle Dive a few times, helping them reach the top far quicker than they expected. Once they were up there, Rouge found another way to go and began to fly.

"Let's go up there!"

"Don't have much of a choice," Shadow replied, grabbing onto Rouge. The bat carried the group up to the top, where a path was headed down, so Shadow took the lead to get things moving faster.

However, almost as soon as they had got there, they were totally in for it.

"It's coming this way!" shouted Rouge, suddenly running as fast as Shadow.

"What's coming?" Shadow dared to ask, turning around.

Three words: giant rolling rock.

Next thing you know, Omega had his boosters on high speed, Shadow was on the verge of breaking into top speed, and Rouge was doing her best to keep Omega and herself beside Shadow.

"You're too fast for us!" Rouge panted, feeling herself pushed to the limit.

"Unit unable to provide necessary speed functions," Omega beeped.

"Then hang on- I'm not turning around if you let go," Shadow said steely, holding his arms back for him team to grab. Once he felt Rouge clutching his arm and Omega's metal hands gripping him as well, he took off with his newly realized speed. Rouge let out an unexpected yelp as Omega settled for a mellower "AHHHHHH."

Shadow couldn't even feel the extra weight, due to being too engrossed in watching where he was going. Anytime he felt someone start to slip, his grip on them tightened instinctively.

"Now there're two of them!" Rouge cried, her heart pumping way too fast for her liking.

"Well, things just got a little more interesting," Shadow chuckled.

"This is not interesting- this is nothing short of lethal," protested Omega. Shadow rolled his eyes, but didn't comment on his robot comrade's perspective of the situation. He ran in pure focused silence until-

"Up ahead! We'll be safe there!"

"Hurry!" Rouge wailed.

"Unh!"

Pushing as hard as he could, Shadow made a daring leap into the shielded area, the stones being too big to follow after them. The hedgehog tumbled forward, surprisingly not feeling tired even after all the running he had performed. Rouge and Omega, meanwhile, looked a lot more beat than he did, despite the fact they didn't even do anything.

"Man…what a rush…" Rouge panted, trying to get her heart to slow back down.

"I think I need a recharge," announced Omega.

While those two were catching their breath (or doing the equivalent of), Shadow looked around the place for anything of interest.

To his luck, he actually found something.

"Hey, check this out," Shadow stated, bending down to the glittering green gem in the cage. Rouge stood up, saw what Shadow was looking at, and let out a cheer.

"It's a Chaos Emerald!" she shrieked happily.

"A Chaos…what?"

"Emerald! Chaos Emerald!" Rouge exclaimed, pulling out the key she had found earlier. To her delight, the key was just what it took the free the treasure, and it only took a few more precious moments for Rouge to capture it for herself. "I can't believe I finally have one! It's all mine!"

"That is not just any gem," Omega began to say, but Rouge cut him off.

"Yeah, yeah, it contains the ultimate power, when all seven of them are together miracles happen, and the Master Emerald that the echidna guards can stabilize the emeralds."

"Seven?" Shadow asked, sounding dazed. "Ultimate…power?"

Rouge heard Shadow speak, glancing at him, then at the emerald, then back again. She looked incredibly hesitant, but eventually tossed the emerald toward Shadow. Shadow lifted his hand and caught it, almost as if it was natural.

"Perhaps…it's better that you have it than me," Rouge stated, now slightly grinning. "Who knows? It might spark something, huh Shadow? … Shadow?"

"Apparently it sparked something," Omega deduced, watching Shadow suddenly begin to gaze into the emerald.

. . .

_It was almost like looking in a mirror._

_Shadow, who was not at all impressed, just pulled out the shiny green Chaos Emerald and held it above him._

_"It all starts with this…a jewel containing the ultimate power…"_

_"That a…Chaos Emerald!" exclaimed a blue hedgehog, one that Shadow had never seen before. "Now I know what's going on!"_

_Shadow glanced down, giving him the slightest bit of acknowledgement as his almost-but-definitely-not-exact-look alike explained everything._

_"The military has mistaken me for the likes of you! So…where do you think you're going with that emerald?"_

_Shadow just stared intently at him. Hmph, he already knew about the mix-up. More importantly he didn't care. And yet…why did this hedgehog look nearly, yet still not_ _exactly, like him?_

_The blue hedgehog growled and ran straight for Shadow. "Say something you fake hedgehog!"_

_"With pleasure…"_

_"Chaos…" Shadow tossed the emerald into the air, then caught it stylishly and held it outwards. "…Control!"_

_Power surged into the single emerald, and in a bright green flash, Shadow disappeared. As the blue hedgehog still ran for his original destination, time seemed to slow down as Shadow reappeared next to the blue blur and ran in the opposite direction._

_Doing a double take, the blue speedster braked to a stop and looked over his shoulder, eyes wide. "Wow! He's FAST." And almost as he admitted that he was pretty speed-worthy, he noted Shadow was now standing on the roof of a building. "Hey...it's not his speed. He must be using the Chaos Emerald to warp!"_

_"My name is Shadow. I am the world's ultimate life form," Shadow explained, tossing the Chaos Emerald up and down in his hand. "There is no time for games. Farewell!"_

_The blue hedgehog shielded his eyes from the blinding light that emitted out of the Chaos Emerald, signaling that Shadow had teleported again, but who knew where?_

_"Shadow…what is he?"_

. . .

"Rouge?" Shadow asked, suddenly feeling strange. Rouge walked over to him and gave him her full attention. "Do you know…what Chaos Control is?"

Rouge gasped- she had witnessed Chaos Control several times, but couldn't exactly describe what it was.

But more importantly, she had only witnessed Chaos Control performed by Shadow himself.

"I…I know of it, but what it is…cannot be expressed in words."

"Really…" Shadow pondered, not taking his eyes off the emerald. Well, that proved it wasn't some dream- but if it wasn't, then who was that blue hedgehog confronting him? It was such a strange vision… "Huh?"

Shadow looked out over the edge, hearing a sudden rush of wind.

To his utter shock, it was that blue blur and his cohorts.

But this time, he could match a face to that blur.

The grin. The color. The hedgehog in that vision…

It was _him_.

Shadow scowled- he knew that hedgehog knew something about him, even if in the vision he acted like he didn't. And if that wasn't enough motivation to get going…Rouge spotted Dr. Eggman.

"It's him!" she exclaimed, and sure enough, Omega was all ready to go, guns a blazing.

"Exterminate!"

"Then come on!" Shadow called, vanishing in a black streak.

"Shadow, wait!" Rouge called, but didn't start giving chase until Omega started firing shots. "…I sure do have my hands full…"

* * *

><p><strong>Despite turning out a bit longer than I planned, I like this chapter. :) And before anyone asks about the flashback at the end- it had to be done. Trust me. <strong>


	4. Egg Hawk

Because We're Sonic Heroes

Chapter 3: Egg Hawk

"Looks like we did it, boys," Vector said to the other members of the Chaotix as they landed on the strip of road that encircled the Ocean Palace. "It looks like Sonic was too slow to beat out _us_!"

"Vector, I think you're going a little crazy with this," Espio stated while scratching his head.

"Yeah- we just got lucky!" protested Charmy. "Team Sonic's on their way as we speak, and at the speed they're going, they'll be here any second to take down Eggman!"

**Meanwhile-**

"SONIC! YOU CAN STOP ANY TIME NOW!" Knuckles and Tails chimed simultaneously. Finally, after they had been going at that speed for five straight minutes, which felt like an eternity to them, Sonic finally put on the breaks.

"C'mon guys, we haven't found Eggman yet!" exclaimed the hedgehog, his legs visibly itching to get moving again. "He's got to be lurking around here somewhere…"

"Ooog, I know you're eager to kick his butt," Tails muttered. "But I think we'd better wait for my internal organs to catch up with the rest of me…"

Knuckles just grabbed his stomach and moaned. However, during his moaning he glanced over his shoulder and raised an eyebrow.

"Huh, I wonder who that is…"

"What? Who do you see?" Sonic asked, suddenly becoming alert. Knuckles shrugged.

"Hard to tell. Big purple guy, tiny orange girl, and…I think that's a red and pink blur, but I-"

"Pink and red!" Sonic yelped, grabbing Knuckles and Tails and careening over the edge of the path. Knuckles grabbed onto the edge along with Sonic and started giving him quite an earful.

"What the heck are you thinking? ! We could've fallen in the water, and then _you'd_ really be in trouble!"

"You can't be too careful when it comes to pink and red…"

"What's wrong with pink and red?" snapped Knuckles.

"Oh, I can think of eight reasons-"

"How long do we have to wait here?" complained Tails.

**Back with the Chaotix-**

"Oh, whatever Charmy," Vector scoffed. "We can trash Eggman's toy before he gets here, which'll show him there's another set of heroes in town, and they're the-"

"CHAOTIX!" cheered Charmy, dancing around.

Espio was about to respond to Vector and Charmy's zealous take on things when the sound of whirling turbines approached from behind. He turned around, only to get an eyeful of a flying machine swooping down towards his team. He instictely performed a backflip, the sudden notion catching the attention of Vector and Charmy.

"So, _you're_ the ones who are playing games with my army!" Eggman bellowed, piloting the contraption known as the Egg Hawk. It resembled a hawk in a few aspects, but in general, it just seemed like Eggman was getting lazt with his creations.

Nevertheless, the Chaotic weren't about to take this lightly. However, Vector tried his best to play it cool.

"Sorry, just part of the job."

"That's the evil genius, Dr. Eggman?" Espio questioned as he prepared himself.

"…Dr. who?" Charmy asked airily, crazily bobbing his head back and forth. Vector and Espio took a well-deserved moment to turn and gawk at him.

"Yes…" Eggman mumbled. "Let me show you who I really am!"

The Egg Hawk rocketed forward, gliding through the air with surprising ease. The wings cut through the wind like knives as the doctor turned his invetion around to take aim at the team that dared to defy him.

"Ha! I knew it was him! Don't hesitate!" the voice rang out from the communication device in Vector's pocket.

"He's a self-proclaimed genius," Espio explained to Charmy as they began to chase after the Egg Hawk. "Remember? _You're_ the one who spotted him!"

"Well he just _seemed_ Eggman-ish! I had no idea he was a psycho!" Charmy protested.

"He's either a genius or a madman, that's for sure," concluded Vector. "Either way, he's going to be very sorry he got in our way!"

The Chaotix did their best to chase it down, but they weren't super-sonic hedgehogs- it was impossible. Just as Espio was about to ask Vector what their plan of action was, Charmy sprung an idea.

"That's one fast bird…maybe I can shock him with Thunder Shoot! It'll stun the Egg Hawk just long enough for you guys to attack!"

"Ahem, and just what exactly is this "Thunder Shoot"?" Espio questioned hesitantly.

"This," Charmy replied, grabbing Espio, tossing him upwards, and bunting him so fast, he gained an electric shield afterwards. The chameleon bowled into the Egg Hawk, slamming into one of the cannons, and not only putting said cannon out of commission, but stalling the metal bird as well. Espio was in such a daze that he wasn't able to speak, but like Charmy had said, his Thunder Shoot maneuver did wonders on the Egg Hawk.

"Vector! Start attacking when the hawk starts spinning!" Charmy ordered.

"Got that, but I'mma need you boys for it," Vector explained.

Charmy nodded eagerly. "Sure thing, Vector!"

It then got silent, and the two turned to Espio.

"Well?"

"…I suppose if it's for the cause of bringing Eggman down," Espio sighed, closing his eyes. Charmy cheered as Vector grabbed them both.

"All right then- aim for that egghead!"

Vector hurled Charmy and Espio at the front of the Egg Hawk, straight down the middle of its reign of terror. The duo was like wrecking balls as they cascaded all over the place, but Espio was the one who gave Eggman a boot to the head.

"Time to concede defeat, doctor."

"This isn't over!" Eggman assured, fighting to get away with his vehicle still intact. The Chaotix just got in a group and snickered at the doctor.

"Take that, doctor!" heckled Vector.

"That's what you get for being a bad guy!" shouted Charmy.

"Death to the evil one! Prepare to die Eggman!" shouted Espio, until being promptly smacked upside the head.

"What're you taking about Espio?" snapped Vector. "We're not going to _kill_ the guy, yeesh!"

"Ow…well, he has to pay for his crimes somehow!"

"Not with death!"

"Hey, was it just me, or did that hawk go down a little too easy…?" pondered Charmy.

"Hard to say- you were the one calling most the shots," Espio muttered. "Maybe it was in such shock from the realization that it threw the fight."

"Ha ha, Espio," Charmy huffed with his arms folded.

"But who cares?" Vector chuckled, slapping his teammates in the shoulders. "We just KO-ed a robot in one hit! I bet Sonic hasn't even done that before!"

"OR just hasn't done it yet-"

"What was that, Espio?"

"Nothing, nothing," the chameleon said quickly. "Let's just get going. Our client will surely have another task for us soon."

Not arguing with that logic, the Chaotix hurried away from the battle remains to see what was up ahead for them.

But who was to say the battle was really over?

. . .

"Ooh, I could've SWORN I'd seen Sonic up ahead here," Amy sighed, upset at finding nothing in particular.

"Yeah, I saw the flash of blue too," added Big. "It was pretty hard to miss."

"But we didn't come down here for Sonic," Cream protested. "We were here to find-"

"I'll show you a thing or two!"

"Dr. Eggman!" Amy cried.

Said doctor was back in his Egg Hawk, swooping over Team Rose like…well, a hawk. He landed before them, hawk-head first, and he didn't look happy.

"Y-You're up to no good again, aren't you?" Amy asked, stammering as she took a few steps back.

"You shouldn't cause so much trouble!" Cream scolded.

"That's a no-no doctor," Big added.

"You guys don't get it…" Amy defended. "He's not supposed to be evil anymore! What's he doing NOW?"

"Why don't you twerps find out?" the doctor cackled, the massive wings of the hawk spreading out. Like huge swords, they sliced through the pillars surrounding the road in no time flat, making Cream jump as they collapsed to the ground in giant thuds.

"What're we gonna do?" Cream winced, glancing at Amy.

"I can't believe Eggman's truly back…well, actually, that's not surprising, but after five months you'd think he would've cut and run!"

"I know that's sort of hard to accept, but we've gotta do something!" Cream shouted.

"Did you not see it slice concrete with its wings? Think about what it can do to us!" Big suddenly boomed. "I don't want you guys getting hurt!"

"There's nothing you can do!" the doctor cackled crazily. "Initiate rotary attack!"

"What does_ that_ mean?"

"JUMP!" Amy cried, leaping into the air and jumping over Eggman's projectiles. Cream grabbed Big and started hovering in the air, both of them looking to Amy for the next course of action. "Wh-what?"

"You're the leader," Big said simply, nearly oblivious to the medley of deadly projectiles being fired around his feet. Amy glanced at the ground, then whipped out her hammer moments later.

"Fine, we'll beat down this clunker and give him a piece of our minds!" Amy shouted, charging forward.

"What do you think you're doing? !" Eggman howled as Amy suddenly jumped onto the back of the Egg Hawk.

"Shut up, you crazy back-stabbing…gumball!"

"Why you little-"

"ARGH!"

Cream and Big each cringed as Amy started whacking the Egg Hawk in every direction, even bonking Eggman a few times in the process as well. After watching this spectacle go on for long enough, Cream rushed into battle as well.

"We've gotta help Amy!" Cream exclaimed.

Big nodded and hurried too. As Eggman was busy tugging on Amy's hammer, Cream tossed Cheese at the doctor's head, doing enough to get him to let go of Amy's hammer.

"JERK!" the hedgeohg hissed, whacking him one last time. Eggman was trying to fire his weapons, but it was impossible to hit targets when your targets were on top of your machine. He could feel the damage slowly being done, between Amy's hammer, Cream and Cheese, and Big just by himself.

"How embarrassing, get beaten by children!" he grumbled. Amy stomped her foot and shook a fist.

"Who're you calling a child?" Amy huffed, ceasing her battering. "Aren't you about done?"

"Why don't you just give up?" Cream asked sweetly, while Cheese was going on a rampage on the doctor's head.

"Yeah, it's best to give up now," Big agreed, and Eggman had to witness the terrifying sight of a huge purple cat performing a cannonball on his beautiful machine. Once the aftershock of that attack passed by, Eggman went crazy in the cockpit, yanking on levers and pressing buttons.

"You little brats! I'll show you a thing or two! Stop your futile efforts! You'll just make fools out of yourselves!"

"Hmph, I think you've got that backwards, Doc!" Sonic declared, pointing at the genius. Team Sonic had arrived on the scene, but miraculously missed Team Rose, who was now standing on the other side of the Hawk.

"Why does he keep making these machines?" Amy shrieked, dusting off bits of metal and preparing to run off. "C'mon, let's go!"

"But Amy, So-" Cream started, but was cut off by Amy.

"No, we're getting out of here! Anyone else he wants to rampage on can be my guest!"

"Amy-"

She grabbed Cream's wrist and bolted, with Big taking his sweet time trudging behind. Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles, meanwhile, had other ideas.

"You sure are one stubborn scientist," Sonic said, now standing on the beak of the hawk, staring down at the doctor, and smirking. "Just when I thought you weren't going to go back to being insane…shame, really."

"Well we're not ready to give up yet either, Sonic," Tails pointed out, grabbing Knuckles and performing Thunder Shoot just like Charmy had. Sonic jumped up at just the right moment, avoiding being electrocuted as a super-charged Knuckles smacked into the side of the hawk. Eggman jostled violently in the cockpit, Tails beaming at what he managed to accomplish.

"That's the spirit Tails!" Knuckles cheered, curling out of ball form and fiercely punching the Egg Hawk.

"Believe it or not, Sonic, I don't have the time to quarrel with you, as long of a time it has been," Eggman growled, trying to recover from his machine being stalled.

"Oh yeah? And why not?" Sonic asked, running after the doctor. "I'd like to think I'm your priority one hedgehog!"

"Let's just say there was an escape at my lab and I'm looking for the runaways," the doctor said with a gooey sweet voice, which was bizarre enough to get Team Sonic distracted. Using this to his advantage, Eggman struck, sending a rain of bullets in their direction. They flipped out of the way just in time, with Sonic grabbing Knuckles and propelling him a small distance.

"There's a boost for ya, Knuckles!" Sonic called.

"I sure needed it," replied Knuckles, extending his fist for extra damage. His fist grinded against the side of the Egg Hawk, a horrendous scraping sound following suit. Knuckles landed on the ground and jumped back, returning to his teammates. Sonic then ran over to Tails, who picked up the hedgehog and performed Thunder Shoot once again. The Egg Hawk stalled, giving Sonic and Knuckles another opportunity to strike. Knuckles demolished most of the bottom while Sonic took out the top, also giving him another chance to mock the doctor.

"What's the matter, Eggman? Got nothing left?"

"Quiet, you!" Eggman hissed, swatting at the hedgehog himself. Sonic evaded the slap easily and snickered.

"Still too slow, Egghead!"

"Huh…" Tails pondered, observing the Egg Hawk from far away. "As interesting as this machine is, it's not performing at one-hundred percent efficiency!"

"Isn't that a good thing for us?" questioned Knuckles, managing to rip off a strip of metal.

"HEY! That wasn't cheap, you know!"

"Well, nothing's wrong with that," Tails said in reply to Knuckles. "It just means either Eggman's got something planned or he was attacked previously."

"Attacked previously?" Sonic echoed, now sitting behind the doctor himself carelessly. "Who would be stupid enough to take on a psychotic evil genius besides us?"

"Wouldn't _you_ like to know?" grunted Eggman, making another attempt to grab Sonic. Sonic, however, jumped up at the last moment and stepped on Eggman's arms. "OW! Get off! OFF!"

"Clearly someone's after Eggman besides us," concluded Knuckles as he shredded off another piece of the outer coating. Apparently that was crossing the line in Eggman's book.

"Yes, and _I'm_ after someone besides you!" Eggman retorted, pressing hard on a button and causing the entire Egg Hawk to rattle. Sonic was flung off the Egg Hawk, Knuckles was propelled away, and Tails quickly flew over to catch them both. As the three of them pulled themselves together, Eggman managed to rev up his machine to make a daring escape. "This is not the end!"

Sonic and company could only stare as the lumbering form of the hawk soared above their heads. After the triple beating it received, it wasn't looking as menacing as it did once before- if it even looked menacing to begin with. For once, Sonic actually just let it get away, considering Eggman would be back for a second strike eventually.

"Well that was a piece of cake! Too easy!" Sonic deduced.

"Amazing machine, but not amazing enough!" Tails chuckled.

"Hmph, that contraption is clearly ready for the junk pile…" huffed Knuckles.

"Still, you can't help but wonder…" Sonic began, watching the Egg Hawk fly away. "Who, exactly, is he really looking for then?"

. . .

Shadow's mind was an utter maelstrom of thoughts- just when he finally had a few answers, he simply gained more questions.

"And it's all because of this emerald…" Shadow trailed, still gazing into it, hoping it would show him more of the vision or give him some other clue. But nothing ever came, leaving Shadow only with the vision of the identity of the blue blur, with a shape but without a name, and with the knowledge that Shadow apparently knew a technique of sorts- performed with the very same emerald he currently held.

And what he _really_ hated what that it felt so _familiar_, but he couldn't figure out _why_. He was supposed to know what it all meant, he was supposed to be able to decipher the hidden message in the vision, but he couldn't, and being unable to do something frustrated Shadow to no end.

"Ultimate power…ultimate life-form…I don't understand…"

Rouge, meanwhile, was hitching a ride on Omega's shoulder, feeling bittersweet as Shadow was practically at war with himself. Whatever the Chaos Emerald caused him to feel was eating away at him, and Shadow was engrossed with nothing but picking it through bit by bit to figure out something. Rouge had decided to give him that particular emerald because she knew it was one he had been close to, but now she regretted it- it was just ruining Shadow even more.

"He's still muttering to himself…" Rouge sighed. "Maybe you should hang onto the Chaos Emerald, Omega. That way, it won't make you go crazy with thoughts or desire for more jewels."

"I will," Omega promised. "But not until Shadow is ready to let it go."

"What if he doesn't and keeps trying to get something out of it?"

"Then I will take it by force. Violence seems to be the answer to everything in this era."

"Not necessarily, Omega," Rouge groaned. "But coming from you, that sounds oddly comforting."

"Scanners say that Chaos Emeralds have powers that go off the charts. Perhaps a miracle will happen to Shadow, therefore staying with the emerald for a while will be good for him."

"Miracles only happen when all seven are together, remember?" Rouge muttered. "I was close to seeing what that was like, but…I lost my chance. Then the Chaos Emeralds were used to save the world, and instead of the miracle_ I_ was hoping to achieve, I witnessed a different and _better_ one... and lost it within the same moment."

"As per usual, you will refuse to disclose the actual identity of this "miracle", won't you?"

Rouge sucked in her cheeks. "Yup."

"It is hard to comprehend the info you wish for me to process, but I seem to get enough of a satisfactory computation."

"…thanks, Omega. Maybe I'll explain one day when Shadow's not around, cuz I don't even want to imagine what he'd say…"

"You can transfer the information whenever the time is convenient for you."

Rouge blinked in surprise, but then smiled. "Omega, you might be a heavy killer robot, but you're actually quite agreeable when you want to be."

She was expecting a response, but didn't receive one.

"Um, Omega?"

"Primary target detected. Destroy Dr. Eggman," Omega mumbled, ready to annihilate the doctor that appeared before them. Eggman gave a surprised sort of smirk, descending upon the group with his busted up Egg Hawk.

"You must be Omega! Hmph! Is that any way to treat your creator? Now witness your master's real power!"

"Dr. Eggman!" Shadow suddenly exclaimed, as if his hypnotic stare into the Chaos Emerald was broken. Instantly he jumped toward the doctor, already barking out questions.

"Who am I? Who are you? What was I doing in that pod? And why can't I remember anything?"

"We're talking to you, doctor!" cried Rouge, springing off Omega's shoulder and flying alongside Shadow. However, before either of them could get an answer, Omega was already annihilating and firing at Eggman.

"This is revenge! Time to pay, Eggman!"

"Omega! Don't kill him off yet!" Shadow ordered. "Wait until _after_ I get the info I need!"

"We're not going to commit murder!" Rouge wailed.

"And you three aren't getting anything from me except a beat down!" Eggman snapped, fighting back with what still worked of his weapons. "For breaking in, breaking out, and breaking EVERYTHING! That room was under tight lockdown!"

"Clearly it was no match for my treasure hunting skills," Rouge retorted with a flirtatious smirk.

"Rouge was the one who busted me out," protested Shadow. "And you won't tell me why I was there in the first place!"

"That location of confinement was the equivalent of a prison," said Omega, still using rapid fire on Eggman. "It deserved to be destroyed!"

"All you renegades should be destroyed!" Eggman roared. "Now that I've finally found you, I can take you out!"

"With that dinged up bat?" Shadow guffawed.

"I find that offensive," huffed Rouge, giving Shadow a look.

"I do too! It's a HAWK!" the doctor growled. "The resemblance is uncanny!"

"Not when it's got two pieces clawed out of it," countered Shadow. Eggman clenched his fists and banged on his dashboard.

"Shut up! The Egg Hawk may have gotten a bit banged up with previous encounters, but my goal was you three the entire time! I didn't even care for _Sonic_- I want to punish _you_!"

"Sonic? !" Rouge squeaked until Eggman unloaded his big guns. Out of instinct, she ducked behind Omega, with the robot still fighting back with a barrage of bullets and flamethrowers of his own. Somewhere in that mishmash of firearms, Eggman lost both of his rotors, and Omega wasn't sure how much longer he could last as a shield.

"Aiiii!" was all Rouge could mutter. "Fight back with all you've got, Omega!"

"Functions alone may not be sufficient enough."

"Where's Shadow?" Rouge questioned, glancing around.

Shadow was standing off to the side, emerald clutched tightly in his hand. After being in contact with it for a while, he knew that it had some power to it- probably the ultimate power as mentioned in the vision.

However, since Eggman was giving him trouble rather than answers, what would be a better time than to test this power than now?

"Ah, and just what do you think you can do, hedgehog?" Eggman questioned, watching as Shadow approached with the emerald tight in his left hand. "I can destroy you easily! You don't even know what you're capable of!"

"Maybe I don't," Shadow admitted, lifting his arm. "But I'm about to find out!"

Now, how did it go…?

"Chaos….CONTROL!"

Eggman seemed to recoil for a brief moment, but then started laughing as nothing happened.

However, he was suddenly frozen in a laughing state, to the surprise of Shadow. He just gaped at the Chaos Emerald.

"What did you think that would do?" Rouge asked, she and Omega not affected by the time freeze.

"In my vision, it caused teleportation…is Chaos Control capable of freezing time as well?"

Rouge shrugged. "Maybe, and if it does, it won't last forever."

"Better take advantage of this opportunity," Omega said, readying his guns. "Rouge, assistance is needed."

"Time to give up, Eggman," Rouge taunted as she lifted Omega into the air.

"That is the only option!" Omega started spinning around, lighting up the Egg Hawk in flames. A huge pink laser expelled out of Omega's turrets, doing an extreme amount of damage to the doctor's machine. As the effects of the Chaos Control wore off, Omega's inferno began to come to a standstill. When time started again, Eggman was still laughing.

"Hey, doctor, you've got no chance of beating me," Shadow said with a sinister smirk, approaching the burning Egg Hawk. Eggman stopped laughing to reply, until he silently and suddenly acknowledged just how bad of a shape the Egg Hawk was in. With a simple snap of Shadow's fingers, the machine completely combusted and Eggman had finally had enough for the time being.

"This isn't the end!" he wailed, using his escape pod to get away. Shadow just scowled back as the madman flew well out of their range.

"Don't underestimate me, doctor…"

"Obviously the doctor's robots are useless," scoffed Rouge, flying back down to the ground. She then tilted her head, trying to see if she could tell where the doctor was disappearing to over the horizon. "Hmm...If I'm correct, Eggman flew off in the direction of that city just beyond the hills…"

"Then that's where we're headed next," Shadow confirmed, rushing off in that direction. Rouge giggled and flew after, with Omega taking up the back.

"Cruiser battleship: destroyed!"

* * *

><p><strong>Though the majority of the boss fights are formatted like this, not all of them are. Boss battles are definitely the hardest to do- the main stages aren't so bad. I just hope I managed to stay as consistent and reasonable as possible... (this particular one was my second-least favorite fight to write, truth be told. :P)<strong>


	5. Grand Metropolis

Because We're Sonic Heroes

Chapter 4: Grand Metropolis

"Now, for the real test…" the client began again, the Chaotix ready to hear the next order once there were in the city of Grand Metropolis. "All of you are about to enter Eggman's territory. Are you ready?"

"Not too late to change your mind…" Espio half teased, half explained, though either way it was said with a hint of darkness in his voice.

"Why do you think we're here?" protested Vector. "How else are we gonna make the rent?"

"Let's go!" Charmy cried.

"Here's your next mission- destroy all of Eggman's robots holding the city!" the client demanded. "Every. Single. One of them!"

"Hmph, direct much?" Espio questioned, shutting off the communicator. "So we're basically going on a robot trashing spree? Sounds good to me."

"Yeah, since all evil must die, apparently," snickered Vector, Espio grumbling afterwards.

"I'm ready to smash heads!" cheered Charmy, flying around excitedly. "Where are they- lemme at 'em!"

"Right down here!"

Vector took the lead, jumping off the ledge to a lower one that was crawling with robots. Charmy and a much more complying Espio allowed Vector to use them as projectiles, battering the baddies out of the air, at least. Espio uncurled instantly and started tossing ninja stars, damaging the exterior of the robots. This made it much easier for Vector to flat out crush them, and Charmy helped out by repeatedly kicking what was left.

"Ha, was that it? "laughed Charmy, pumping his fists. "This is going to be easy!"

"Have you seen the size of this city?" Espio asked, tapping his foot. Charmy shook his head.

"No, why?"

Espio motioned behind him, where a futuristic neon road emerged into existence, leading into the rest of the huge city.

"This was just an appetizer. We've got a lot more ground to cover before we can call these robots even half exterminated."

Charmy and Vector exchanged glances, looking like they had both just randomly laid an egg. Espio didn't seem the least bit amused as he stalked into the rest of the city. This was going to be a long mission…

. . .

"Looks like Eggman escaped into the city…" Knuckles stated, gazing over the edge of the building Team Sonic was currently standing on.

"Eggman's robots are taking over everything!" Tails realized.

"Let's find Eggman and show him the real power of teamwork!" Sonic ordered, dramatically clenching his fist. Tails grinned nervously while Knuckles sweat dropped and just walked off. "…what? What!"

"Anyway," Tails began, following Knuckles. "If what I know about this place is correct, then at the very center is an automated energy plant that supplies power for the entire city."

"Energy plant?" Knuckles asked, scratching his head as Tails nodded. Sonic, meanwhile, jumped into the conversation before he could be mocked again.

"So that must be energy flowing through those red pipes!"

"Yeah…Grand Metropolis is known for its energy conserving ways, all because the Power Plant generates almost limitless energy, but no one knows _what_ generates the energy, or what the energy _is_. That was before Eggman took over, though…"

"Hmph, he's probably using all the energy to fuel his robots," Sonic deduced, making a face. "It's a step up from using cute little animals, but taking energy from an entire flourishing city? That's still pretty sick."

"In that case we'd better rescue this city from Eggman!" Knuckles declared, storming forward. Sonic chuckled and took off after him.

"Now that's what I like to hear!"

. . .

"So, that Eggman is behind all of this…" Shadow mused upon arriving in Grand Metropolis, currently just standing and pondering the situation.

"Whatever it takes, he's mine," Rouge snarled, determinedly clutching her fists. She glanced over her shoulder at the other members of Team Dark. "Any objections?"

"Negative," bleeped Omega. Shadow said nothing.

However, they had only gotten so far when Shadow had spotted the large, dominant building that seemed to tower over the rest. He tilted his head as he came to a stop, trying to get a better look.

"Is that the energy plant?"

"Mmm-hmm!" Rouge confirmed, floating down to his side. "The red liquid it produces is sold at high prices."

"Eggman must have plans to control the energy," calculated Omega.

"Well, you know what we have to do to the city then, don't you?" Shadow asked upon the realization, nudging at his Chaos Emerald.

"Um, kick Eggman out of the city, stop him from stealing the fuel, and liberate Grand Metropolis?" Rouge suggested meekly.

"Nope."

"Destroy!" Omega suddenly shouted, firing at anything that seemed Eggman related.

"If Eggman has control of this city…" Shadow began, feeling the power of the Chaos Emerald course through him. "…then we must crush it in our wake!"

"I outta smack you!" shrieked Rouge. "What're you talking about? This is a perfectly fine and flourishing city- why destroy it and let all that good go to waste?"

"We can bring Eggman down in more than one way," Shadow explained as if it was obvious. "We destroy the source of the power he stealing, and we crush everything he's done to the city in the process."

"But what about all the people? What about the city itself? It's not the city's fault that clown took over!"

"Why do you care about what happens to the city?" questioned Shadow, giving Rouge a confused look. "You have no reason to, plus it doesn't seem like something you would usually do…"

Rouge folded her arms and stared back with a look that made Shadow recoil a little. "Don't you think that's a bit overkill? People say I'm selfish and care only for jewels, and maybe sometimes that's true, but I'm not heartless you know…crushing a city is just wrong!"

She spun away and trotted off in a huff.

"If you want to go on a rampage, fine by me. But my name will not be part of the cause of the harm done to Grand Metropolis."

Shadow and Omega exchanged a look for the longest time before Omega turned right back around and continued to destroy any traces of Eggman. Shadow wanted to join in on the demolition as well, but something was telling him that maybe Rouge was right after all…

…but still, simply freeing the city wasn't going to stop Eggman dead in his tracks.

. . .

"Amy, are you sure Mr. Sonic is here?" Cream questioned, staring uneasily at the massive city.

"No doubt about it! My heart is never wrong!" Amy answered enthusiastically.

"…Then it _must_ be so," finished Cream innocently.

Amy gave a short giggle and skipped off, with Cream looking less than satisfied. Big was half-oblivious as usual, his eyes trying to see each and every aspect of the city- something he certainly wasn't used to.

"What a huge plant…" he trailed, observing the large structure that could be easily spotted from anywhere in the city.

"Plant? What plant?" Cream asked, trying to see. She started spinning her ears as she lifted off the ground, now able to see the object of interest. "Oh, I see it! Wow, it sure looks important…"

"Forget the plant- look at the rest of the city!" Amy exclaimed, spinning around with her arms spread out. "There's hover cars, holographic roads, and buildings so tall they make your head spin! Ooh, I wonder if they've got a mall!"

"The holographic paths make us go faster…" Big realized as soon as he stepped foot on it.

"To match up with the rush of traffic, of course!" explained Amy. "I say we take a break and go around and sightsee!"

'But Amy, we can't," protested Cream, her eyes growing wide. "What about Chocola and Froggy?"

"They're with Sonic- they're guaranteed safe!"

Cream frowned deeply and clenched her fists. "But I don't think… oh well, never mind…"

. . .

"According to the data I've managed to gather on Grand Metropolis," the Chaotix's client rallied off, giving the group more information. "It seems that there are eighty-five total robots in the city."

"Eighty-five? !" yelped Charmy. "And how many have we taken down so far? !"

"Four."

Charmy did a backflip followed by plopping right out of the air. Vector snatched the walkie talkie out of Espio's hands and practically started to yell.

"Are you crazy? ! Telling us to go stomp into enemy territory and to go destroy all their creations is like suicide! Especially when there're still eighty of the buggers stomping around!"

"Eighty-one, to be exact," pointed out Espio. Vector gave the chameleon a look that said he could care less about math right now. Meanwhile, the client was going on a rampage of their own.

"Listen, do you want Dr. Eggman to have the upper hand on you somewhere down the road? If you destroy the robots in this city here and now, it will slow down his progress! Eighty little robots should be nothing for the Chaotix, no?"

"Eighty-one," interrupted Espio, taking the communicator back. "…and of course they'll be nothing. We'll be done in less than ten minutes, tops."

Vector let out a high-pitched "What!" as the client seemed pleased with Espio's proposition.

"Very good. Get going, because time is ticking…"

Espio shut off the communicator once more as Vector stomped the ground angrily.

"Are you out of your highly-trained ninja mind, Espio? We're detectives, not street fighters! Sure I've got a few impressive hops, and you've got your ninja groove going on, but that doesn't mean we're cut out for this!"

"Unless you feel like living in a box, we're just going to have to suck it up," grumbled Espio, taking off once again. Vector was left in a daze while Charmy took off his helmet to scratch his head.

"Wow, for a guy who could seemingly care less about helping out a mysterious client, he sure seems intent on doing a good job!"

"Espio's complicated like that," grunted Vector, pulling himself together and following Espio.

. . .

Even though the city was currently under the influence of Eggman, Sonic found the more positive sides of the situation, as usual. He pointed out the hover cars to Tails, told Knuckles to break down anything that had Eggman's face on it, and for himself, well-

"I love these paths!" he cheered, racing down the neon blue roads. "They increase your speed _and_ look cool! Woo hoo!"

The path made an unnecessary loop, but Sonic enjoyed it all the same. As he shouted to the sky in excitement, Knuckles just shook his head.

"If the whole city is like this, we'll be losing Sonic very soon," he predicted.

"But Sonic promised he wouldn't run off again," Tails responded rather quickly.

"Yeah, but once he gets into his element, he stops thinking," Knuckles sighed before smirking. "Not that he thinks anyway."

"What're you talking about? He always thinks- he just does it better when he's on his feet!"

"Okay, fine, but there's still the chance he's going to get all caught up in this…"

"Why do you believe that so much?" Tails genuinely asked, walking in front of Knuckles and folding his arms. Knuckles just walked past him to keep following Sonic.

"When was the last time you saw Sonic before getting that letter from Eggman?"

Tails was deathly silent.

"Been a long time, huh? A few months, maybe?"

Tails nodded.

"What do you think'll happen when this adventure's over?"

"Hmph, stop it Knuckles!"

Knuckles froze in midstep to turn to Tails. The fox's fists were clenched and his face was scowling, but he wasn't angry.

"So what if he always leaves- that's what he likes to do! And he always comes back, no matter what!"

Knuckles unfroze himself and kept walking. "Huh. Yeah."

. . .

Amy was absolutely enjoying herself as well- the city life rushing all around her was definitely her style, but that didn't stop her from hunting down that mall. Big was just as emerged in the atmosphere as Amy was, discovering something new every time he turned his head. Cream, meanwhile, figured that Sonic really was here, after seeing pieces of robots that someone had previous trashed. That meant two things- one, Eggman was definitely here, and two, Sonic would definitely be on his trail.

"I kinda want to find Mr. Sonic too…" Cream trailed to herself. "Whether he has Froggy and Chocola or not, I'm pretty sure he'd be happy to help…if he didn't have his hands full with Dr. Eggman…"

"Chao chao? "Cheese asked, looking downcast. Cream patted her Chao and gave him a smile.

"Don't worry, Cheese, we'll find Chocola. Amy knows what she's doing…"

How_ easily_ could Amy swap from one task to the next- Sonic was all she ever talked about, and _just_ when it became really important, she was distracted by the flashy big city. Sure, it was a lot more impressive than back at home, but it wasn't_ that_ much better right?

"I found the mall!" Amy shrieked, already making tracks for a building that happened to have posters of various objects. Cream groaned and grabbed Amy before she got too far.

"We can't do that! We've gotta find Chocola!"

"Froggy!" wailed Big. Amy huffed and blew her bangs back.

"I know, I know! How do you expect that we can catch the fastest thing alive, huh?"

"Well, you track him down all the time," retorted Cream, which was the absolute wrong thing to say. Amy wrestled out of her grip and stared down at the rabbit, making Cream feel very unnerved.

"What do you mean by "track him down"?"

"Anything you ever do revolves around Sonic," Cream continued, imagining Amy pulling out her hammer at any given moment. "Usually it's, well, tracking him down! So with all your experience, you should be a natural at finding Sonic."

Amy stared at Cream for what seemed like forever before she finally smiled. "You're totally right Cream! If that came from anyone else, I'd smack them, but I see what you mean! Finding Sonic should be no problem, even IN this huge city! C'mon guys- I've got a plan now!"

Amy erased all thoughts of the mall from her mind, taking off into the speedy streets once again. Cream let out a groan, which Big couldn't tell if it was one of relief, or one of disappointment.

. . .

"I probably do owe something to Rouge," Shadow muttered to himself, not trying to get her attention. "After all, she saved me from that pod, and without her, I would have never learned the Chaos Control…"

"Aha!" Omega randomly shouted, taking aim at a stray robot. "The machines are taking the energy off the road! Terminate all Eggman robots regardless of their purpose!"

"How else were they going to take it?" asked Shadow, casually skating along said road.

"Maybe Eggman has some sort of processor in the power plant?" guessed Rouge. "But if they're taking it from the road, then-"

"We must destroy the roads and Eggman!" Omega concluded, charging up a massive blast and aiming at the blue path. Rouge and Shadow tackled him before he could fire.

"Eggman, maybe. The energy efficient and time saving streets? I don't think so," countered Rouge.

"At least not while were standing on it!" exclaimed Shadow in a huff. "Honestly…"

It took a while to convince Omega that destroying the roads wasn't the best course of action- and neither was destroying the city, according to Rouge. Eventually Omega complied, with Shadow and Rouge releasing him. He did manage to suffice his destruction craving by blasting stray robots to bits, however.

"Do they really think they stand a chance?"

"Not against us they don't," Shadow said sternly, watching as robots parts exploded into even more pieces. "However…"

He turned around to glance at Rouge, and as soon as she saw the look on his face, Rouge knew he had a question she wasn't going to want to answer.

"…who is Sonic, if I may ask?"

"What makes you think I know anything about a guy like that?" Rouge questioned back, arms folded.

"Don't play dumb- you were surprised to hear the doctor mention his name during that pathetic fight."

Rouge glanced at the ground for a split second before giving Shadow a flirtatious grin. "Why do _you_ want to know? Afraid there's some other guy in my life?"

"No," Shadow replied bluntly. "He has to be somewhat important if the doctor mentioned him…"

Rouge's grin went away as she turned from Shadow. "If I told you, you'd probably want to go find _him_ instead of Eggman. If you _really_ want to know, then you can go figure it out for yourself."

Shadow glanced at Omega. "You have anything on this Sonic guy?"

"Affirmative, but not enough information to provide sufficient explanation."

Shadow didn't miss the sigh of relief Rouge expelled. He returned his attention to Omega and raised an eyebrow.

"Well, what information do you have?"

Omega attempted a shrug. "He is the doctor's arch nemesis. Besides world conquest and the hope to establish Eggmanland, Eggman's goal is to defeat Sonic. That is all I have."

"Interesting…" Shadow mused, starting to head off once more. As Rouge passed by, he stared at her, feeling partially confused, and partially frustrated.

_"You are hiding _something_..."_

. . .

By the time the Chaotix got back into the swing of things, they were now up to fifteen Egg Pawns defeated. It wasn't much, but it was certainly a start.

"There are some machines blocking the path!" Vector exclaimed as the group was in flight formation. "I'll destroy them one by one!"

"Let's dive bomb 'em!" cried Charmy, suddenly taking a nosedive. Espio felt his pupils shrink.

"Easy for you to say- you're the one with the helmet!"

"AIIIIII!"

"Whee!" Just before they smashed into the ground, Charmy swung Espio up, causing Vector to go catapulting into the first robot. Meanwhile, Espio discovered an electric force field forming around him, and he knew what Charmy was going to do next.

"Next time tell me when you're going to use Thunder Shoot," grumbled Espio.

Charmy nodded as he bowled Espio to the second robot. "Yeah, yeah, sure."

Espio went careening into the second robot while Vector was taking on two at a time. They were advancing on him quickly, and looked like they could easily overpower the crocodile, but Vector had a little surprise up his sleeve.

"RAGH! RAAAAAGH!"

"Whoa! Vector's breathing fire!" shouted Charmy, now thrown into a frenzy. "Why can't I do that?"

Espio just blinked at the phenomenon. "Either Vector has some serious heartburn, or I'm really witnessing a fire breathing crocodile."

"Heh heh," Vector snickered, watching as the two robots started to scorch. He winded up his fists, looking ready to charge. "This'll show ya to get in our way!"

And with a definitive smash, the two robots were put out of commission. As Vector stood stoically in the middle of the platform, Espio and Charmy approached him with wide-eyes.

"Can you show me how to do that?" Charmy asked after several seconds of silence. Vector chuckled.

"If you thought that was impressive, you should see what else I can do with chewing gum!"

"I think I'll pass," Espio stated, starting to walk off. His stride was cut off by the arrival of robot number twenty, hulking over the ground like he was far more superior than they could ever hope to be. Espio whipped out a ninja star and struck the robot, but it just glanced off his torso. Espio blanched. "On second thought, maybe you should show us what else you can do with gum…"

"Way ahead of you," Vector replied, already chewing a huge mouthful of gum. He ran Espio's side before blowing bubble gum bubbles like no one's business. Before Espio could question how using candy like that was going to help, it turned out that all the bubbles popped on the robot, causing it to lose all mobility. Espio quickly caught on and motioned for Charmy.

"Vector, keep blowing bubbles and make sure they're directed at the legs. Charmy…"

"Yes? YES? !"

"…use Thunder Shoot."

"YAY!"

Within a flash and a cascade of pink bubbles, Charmy scooped up Espio and hurled his electrically charged body at the robot. The robot was so busy trying to break free of its gooey mess that it missed the oncoming threat, resulting in a large hole being made in its torso. Vector stopped blowing bubbles and swapped back to fire. He jumped up, grabbed hold of Charmy, and directed his flames at the hole, damaging the robot internally and permanently.

"There was probably an easier and cleaner way to do that," Espio deduced after kicking the robot over to make sure it was truly no longer operational.

"Who cares? That was totally cool!" Charmy chirped. "Let's hope we run into another robot like that!"

"No thank you," Vector and Espio said quickly, bolting away from the scene as quickly as possible.

"These machines…" Espio trailed, holding the scraps of robot number thirty-two. "They must be stealing something from the pipes that are running underground!"

"Eggman, you bad man!" Charmy shouted to the sky, shaking a fist.

"Well I guess we caught him red-handed," Vector shrugged, witnessing first hand a robot ciphering something from the pipe running along the road. He shot a bubble in its direction, causing it to get stuck where it was, followed by crushing it with two fists. "And there's thirty-three."

"Why are they doing this?" Espio wondered, investigating where the robot once was. "Better yet, what are they trying to get?"

"This city is all futuristic and stuff, isn't it?" Charmy asked. "There's bound to be some sort of powerful energy to cause roads to just appear, make the cars float, and to keep everything running smoothly!"

"But this is Eggman's territory- why would his robots take his own energy?" pondered Vector.

"Duh, he's a villain! He probably set his robots loose, and once they did, the real citizens of this city went packing!" scoffed Charmy.

"Yes…then he rebuilt sections in his own image, while using excess power to fuel his robots!" Espio exclaimed. He and Charmy exchanged a rare high five- while Vector just folded his arms.

"I knew all that- I was seeing if you two would catch on," he stated. Espio nodded and carried on.

"Yeah, thanks for that, Vector."

"You don't believe me, do you?"

"Not a chance."

"Well fine with-"

Vector's protest was cut off by the sight of a group of ten robots, all lined up like bowling pins and just asking to be knocked down. However, they were also looking like they were in dire need of some targets to practice on.

So when the Chaotix came calmly walking into their eye sight, you can only imagine what happened.

"ASSAULT! ASSAULT!" Charmy cried, weaving and bobbing between the onslaughts of attacks being unleashed on them. "Make a path- you don't have to go home but ya can't stay here!"

The bee dove behind a conveniently placed car, and Vector and Espio decided that wasn't such a bad idea after all. Espio skidded next to Charmy, while Vector tumbled into position.

"There may be too many of them," Espio explained, poking his head around their meager protection. "We may need to element of surprise, okay Vec-"

"RAAAGH!"

"Charge!" shouted Charmy, completely contradicting what he had said earlier. Vector was busy wiping out five of the robots with a fierce fire, while two of them were currently stuck to the ground. The remaining three went charging at the crocodile for wiping out their numbers, but Espio pulled out his plan of surprise as he took out one from behind. The other two whirled around and aimed their guns at the chameleon, but the ninja quickly dispensed ninja stars and sliced the guns clean off.

"I don't think so," Espio huffed, casually picking up his stars as the two robots initiated a freak out. Charmy assisted this by smashing their heads together, then breaking into hysterics.

"Well that made it forty-three," Vector counted, back to chewing gum. "We're already pretty much half-way done!"

"Forty-two more clunkers to go!" cheered Charmy, fist pumping. "Let's get to it!"

"You were the two that didn't even…ugh, never mind," Espio sighed, trotting after his team.

. . .

Tails was feeling a bit apprehensive after catching the gist of what Knuckles had told him, but if he'd mentioned it to Sonic, then it would come right back around and end up with Knuckles being the one in Tails' position, and that was something that Knuckles just didn't need.

Knuckles had wanted to go on a rant with Tails, but he figured that if he down-talked the fox's idol too much, it would end up reaching Sonic and getting him a probably well-deserved black eye. Knuckles understood why Sonic did what he did very well- he just didn't like it.

"Hey, how come you two are suddenly all quiet?" Sonic asked, making a ruckus between crushing crates and kicking robot parts off the edges of the buildings. "Usually Tails has some fun facts or Knuckles has something to complain about!"

"_Fun facts?"_ Tails guffawed as Knuckles started marching up to Sonic. He then gulped and grabbed the echidna. "Er, Knuckles? Don't go punching his face in."

"I'll give him something to complain about."

Sonic broke out into a cheeky grin and nodded in Knuckles' direction. "Good to see I provoked a response!"

And that was when the team lost their composure. Knuckles let out a roar and tore off after Sonic, with Sonic already several steps ahead. Tails cringed and flew after them, shouting, "Don't forget we have to save the city from Eggman!"

Knowing he wasn't being listened to, Tails just resorted to keeping up with the chase.

When Knuckles was mad, that wasn't a very easy thing to do.

Sonic, being the quick and clever guy that he was, bounded over buildings in single leaps and tossed excess crates to slow down Knuckles. Knuckles, however, countered all this by gliding over the gaps, then using his fist to break the crates like glass without missing a beat.

"Can't we go anywhere without you making me want to hurt you?"

"You don't really want to do that," Sonic pointed out, tossing a robot arm over his shoulder. "You say that, but by the time you catch me, your anger has already subsided."

Knuckles ducked under the arm and grunted something under his breath, while Tails ended up getting whacked in the shoulder.

"Ow! Watch it, guys!" he shouted, holding up the arm. A thought then crossed his mind, and he frowned. "Wait a second…if Eggman's running this city, then why are his robots in pieces?"

He would have loved to share this information with Sonic and Knuckles, but Sonic was too busy using the robot parts as inhibitors to Knuckles while the echidna was too engrossed with Sonic to pay attention. Tails groaned, dropped the arm, and continued to fly.

. . .

"Look at this place," Rouge sighed, sitting on the edge of the building and watching the rest of Grand Metropolis pass her by. Omega was busy battering through robots that were replacing the ones the Chaotix destroyed, while Shadow was standing behind Rouge. "Do you really want to crush it just because Eggman is trying to take advantage of it?"

"Well, how else are we supposed to stop Eggman from harnessing all that energy?" Shadow asked.

"I don't know…but I'm pretty sure someone's already taking care of it if I know this city well."

"Like who?" Shadow grunted, not amused. "_Sonic?"_

Rouge looked up at Shadow and whispered, "Yes."

Shadow muttered something under his breath as he continued gazing- several high-speed hover cars rushed by each other, making a blur of colors in midair. The buildings stood tall and proud, and Shadow couldn't help but wonder why everything was still continuing like normal. Didn't any of the residents know that there was a crazed scientist ciphering their own energy?

To be honest, the real way to get Eggman to scram would be to prevent him from being able to steal the energy. The only problem for Shadow was how were they supposed to do that without utterly demolishing the city in its path? He was torn between Omega's idea and Rouge's concerns…

But he could make his own decision...couldn't he?

"Let's go," Shadow stated out of the blue, leaping off the side of the building and landing on a road. Rouge and Omega said nothing and simply followed, but Shadow was suddenly going too fast for their liking. Just after Shadow ran a loop in the road, a half-hearted boom broke out, and Shadow was nothing more than a black smear.

"Did…Shadow do that?" Rouge gasped in disbelief. Omega made a few calculations and nodded.

"Affirmative. He was just under the breaking the sound barrier, therefore the boom wasn't quite a sonic boom."

"It was still powerful enough to do…_that_, however…" Rouge trailed, watching with wide eyes as a building completely collapsed under the force.

. . .

Cream had to say, at least Amy was back on track now. She had succeeded in getting the hedgehog back to business, but Amy had gotten the wrong message from what Cream was trying to say. Regardless, Cream couldn't bring herself to talk about it again, mainly because Amy was suddenly really happy.

"Man, I wish we could go faster!" Amy commented, running as fast as she could possibly go.

"You're the leader, and these roads are making us go faster," replied Big. "How much faster do you want to go?"

"Super sonic speed!" Amy countered with a chuckle.

"You're not capable of doing that, though," Cream pointed out.

Amy just shrugged. "I'll break the sound barrier one day, I'm pretty sure."

Suddenly, a large boom echoed off all the buildings, causing Big to stumble and Amy and Cream to fall right onto their backs.

"What…was that?" Big asked.

"It was a Sonic Boom!" Amy exclaimed, springing back to her feet and beginning to bounce around. "It must have been Sonic!"

"I don't think it was Sonic…" Cream trailed off, watching as an entire building collapsed and a black blur sped away from the destruction. Amy turned around and gave Cream a questioning look.

"Who else could it have possibly been?"

Cream frowned, glancing back to the streak as it disappeared.

"…I don't know…"

. . .

Team Chaotix had destroyed another seven robots, bringing the total up to fifty.

"Come out, bad guys, wherever you are!" Charmy called, trying to coax the robots out of hiding. Next thing they knew, about fifteen Egg Pawns came out of hiding, each of them armed with either spears or missile launchers.

"This just keeps getting better and better," Vector grumbled, spitting gum in every direction. Once seven of them were rooted to the spot, Espio darted in to attack, using his homing attack to demolish three of them. The other four, while they still remained intact, lifted their guns or spears and tried to attack Espio.

"You didn't hear what happened to your friends last time, did you?" The ninja asked, proving his point with another round of ninja stars. The weapons were removed from the robots, and since they were attached to the ground by gum, they couldn't pick them back up again. Vector then rushed over, grabbed Espio, and bowled him into the robots.

"There's still eight more!" howled Charmy, whimpering as the remaining ones closed in on him. "Augh! Help! HELP!"

Vector and Espio were over there in a flash, Vector spewing gum and fire while Espio was a magenta flash darting around, striking the robots when they least expected it and leaving them in pieces. The combination of Vector's weakening tactics and Espio's bold strikes were enough to help Charmy emerge unscathed. Charmy was left in a stunned daze for several moments before exploding with energy and unintentionally bopping Vector and Espio on the head in his excitement.

"You two are the coolest, even if you're also the meanest!" Charmy shouted, flying around unable to contain himself. "Vector was all, 'RAGH! FIRE! RAGH! GUM!' and then Espio just darted in with his ninja skills and was just kicking and slashing away! It was AWESOME! I wish I was that cool!"

Vector and Espio exchanged looks of pride as Charmy continued his encouraging rant. Eventually Vector plucked Charmy out of the air and chuckled.

"Okay Charmy, we get the point. We still have twenty more times to be awesome ahead of us, and as much as standing here listening to you compliment us is nice, we've got a job to do."

"Sweet," Charmy giggled, ready to go again. "…How come you guys weren't cool like that before?"

"We'll talk about that later, Charmy."

. . .

"Okay guys, we seriously need to get something productive done!" Amy exclaimed, pepping up her team for the tenth time in the row.

"What happened to the plan you said you had earlier?" Cream moaned, tired of running long ago and simply resorted to flying. Amy snapped her fingers.

"Oh yeah, I never did mention that, did I?"

Cream and Big shook their heads.

"Well, remember the plant Big spotted earlier?"

Cream nodded. "Yeah, and I said it looked rather important."

"Exactly- which means Sonic will probably be investigating there to see if Eggman has done anything screwy. Where we come in is we beat them to the exit of the plant, and we confront them then and there!"

"How do we know that we won't miss Sonic?" Big questioned, scratching his head.

"Knowing Sonic, he'll want to explore every nook and cranny of the place- while he's busy with that, all we need to do is just make it to the end!"

"I hope that works, because that's all we've got," Cream said nervously.

"It's a foolproof plan!" Amy assured. "Now let's keep going- it'll only work if we actually make it to the power plant."

Amy cheered as she dashed over a ramp, propelling her over the city and through a rainbow loop. Cream and Big were right behind her, the three of them spinning in the air and crashing through the window of a building. They tumbled onto the ground, Amy skidding along the floor before she came to a stop.

"Okay…didn't mean for that to happen…"

"Where are we?" Big asked, looking around.

"We're inside a building," explained Cream once she stood back up. "I think if we get out of here, we'll be almost to the power plant!"

"I think you're right, Cream," Amy agreed, starting to venture into the area. Everywhere laid strewn out pieces of Eggman robots, inferring that someone had been there before them. Amy was totally sure it had been Sonic, since he was the only one she could think of that would actually do something like that… besides Tails and Knuckles.

"Whoever was here saved us from having to fight these robots," Big stated, picking up a metal slab. "That was nice of them."

"I wonder why they're scorched though," pointed out Cream. "I don't think Sonic has any fire powers…"

"Yeah, but Knuckles is hotheaded enough to cause a scorch mark," huffed Amy, disregarding the suspicious way the robots went down.

After that, Big broke down a door that closed off the rest of the path, doing so with nothing but his bare hands. More scattered robot parts awaited them, but Amy trampled over them without giving them a second thought. Cream and Big, meanwhile, noticed the large wads of gum latching onto everything, and it definitely bewildered Cream.

"That's really familiar…"

The sound of Amy's nagging pulled Cream away from the bizarre sight, and Cream stumbled in her direction. She couldn't let herself get distracted, especially after all she had said about Amy…

. . .

Now Tails was slightly irritated- Sonic and Knuckles hadn't slowed down for anything. The duo had ignored any signs of danger, didn't pay attention to Tails saying important things, tore through anything that got in their way (including conveniently placed doors), and shoot- Tails started throwing _back_ the robot pieces _Sonic_ was tossing, but they glanced off Knuckles like they were nothing.

"Fine, ignore me when I say that the robots are stealing the energy via the roads!" Tails shouted.

"How low can he go?" Sonic asked, kicking down another Eggman-faced door and racing through.

Knuckles grabbed half the door and chucked it at Sonic, but Sonic kicked it out of his way. "We can't let him get away with this! Right after I take care of Sonic!"

"You two are impossible," Tails moaned.

"Still can't catch me!" Sonic chuckled, practically flying down the speed-inducing streets.

"You also can't run forever."

Sonic landed in another pile of robot parts and started running in circles, causing them to careen into the air. When Knuckles landed in the same spot, the pieces all fell out of the air and hindered Knuckles greatly. Tails flew down afterwards and unburied Knuckles from the debris.

"You know this is only what he wants you to do, right?" Tails asked, still uncovering Knuckles.

"Yeah…" Knuckles replied, spitting out a spring. "So let me give him what he wants!"

"We've got more important matters to deal with," Tails said sternly, holding up a robot leg. "Really important matters. Like, say, I dunno…Eggman trying to destroy the world two days from now? The first day's almost over, and you and Sonic are wasting time!"

"Tell that to him, not me!" Knuckles huffed, starting to run again. "He's the one that thinks everything is a game!"

"He's past that," Tails informed him, shaking his head. "Yes, he still saves the world for fun, but in the end, when he realizes he gets _too_ deep into it, that if he fails we're all doomed, and you know that he would never want that to happen to _anyone_ if he could help it."

"Yeah…but why does he have to mess with _me_ in the process?"

Tails gave a small chuckle and shrugged. "Sonic wouldn't be Sonic then, would he?"

. . .

The Chaotix were still on the lookout for the final twenty robots of Grand Metropolis, with Charmy eager to see Vector and Espio in action once again. Espio was pretty sure that nothing of the sort was going to be pulled off again, but who was he to crush the bee's dream?

Charmy had brought them deeper into the city via a teleporting flower, but even with that, there didn't seem to be any enemies in sight.

"Maybe you scared them all off after that last display of awesomness," Charmy suggested with a shrug.

"I highly doubt that, Charmy," Espio stated, standing still and trying to detect any sort of sign of foes. All he could detect with his honed ninja senses was the sound of flying cars weaving between the buildings, factory sounds in the distance, and Vector's stomach grumbling. Feeling unsatisfied, Espio gave up and continued the regular search.

"They've gotta be close," Vector deduced, pressing a button to open a door. Beyond that, Charmy took the lead to get them up higher, followed by Espio taking over to maneuver them down the halls faster. Eventually they located the sixty-first robot, but it was heavily guarded with its huge shield closed around it.

"That shield is going to cause us problems; Espio, can you get rid of it?" asked Vector. Espio gave a nod and ran at the robot, starting to run around it. Charmy watched in awe as Espio circled the robot, blowing off its shield with Leaf Storm…

…but disappearing in the process.

"Huh? Espio?"

No response from Espio, but it was easy to tell that the robot was experiencing a beating. It was smacked back and forth, and it couldn't even fight back because it couldn't see what was attacking him. When it finally exploded with a defeated boom, Espio reappeared, looking quite proud of himself. Charmy gave Espio applause while Vector told the chameleon not to let it go to his head. Espio just gave Vector a look.

"Like you weren't reveling in Charmy's compliments-"

"That's completely different! It's one of the only times we're not being annoyed or whined at!"

They both turned to stare at Charmy, who was happily amusing himself by singing "Nineteen more! Nineteen more! Nineteen more in store!"

They turned back to each other and muttered, "We need to find the last of them- fast."

. . .

"Real power of teamwork, huh?" Knuckles asked, now that the group was unified as one again. "Besides the fact that's the cheesiest thing I've _ever_ heard in my life, you sure didn't apply it very well previously."

"That's only because you're not a team player, Knux," Sonic replied, jabbing an accusing thumb over his shoulder. "Who's the one always saying in a deep dramatic voice "I prefer to work alone!" huh?"

"It's not that I'm _not_ a team player, I just work better alone, because I don't have distractions like you holding me back."

"At ease, people!" Tails ordered for the third time. "If you can't say anything nice, then don't say anything at all!"

"In that case, we'd never hear Knuckles' voice again," Sonic shrugged casually.

After seeing the stare Tails shot him, Knuckles tried to fight the urge to grab Sonic, but it was easier said than done.

Sonic became a little less defensive when they stepped onto another blue road. Since he was the leader, the group cruised through even faster, but Sonic was too busy enjoying the double loop and the corkscrew to figure out just how fast they going. Tails was getting the most out of it as well, with Knuckles simply trying to keep himself balanced.

"Y-EAH!" cheered Sonic, rushing off the ramp at the end and aiming for a building's broken window.

"I'm falling!" Tails yelped, looking down and feeling queasy.

"You're fine, Tails," Knuckles assured. "Besides, you can fly."

"For only so long!" was the protest as the group landed inside a corporate building. They stood up and looked around- a lot of robots parts were left in someone's wake, while blue holographic signs that matched the roads were posted everywhere.

"HEXA-eco?" Knuckles questioned, walking over and poking one.

"It's a pretty well-known company, Knuckles," Sonic input as if it was obvious, Knuckles put on a blank look.

"Oh yes, Sonic, because I care so much about the success of companies while I'm on Angel Island."

"Just saying!"

"Yes, HEXA-eco supplied most of the funding to build and develop Grand Metropolis," Tails informed. "Their biggest achievement was actually the power plant, which if memory serves, is right behind this building."

"So…what, are we heading to the power plant or something?" Knuckles asked.

"Well if Eggman's robots are stealing energy, then maybe their main operations are in the power plant itself," estimated Sonic.

"But they're stealing it through the roads- what good would going to the plant do?"

Sonic shrugged. "Who knows, but if we can figure out the source of all the energy-"

"Maybe we can use it against Eggman!" Tails suddenly gasped.

Knuckles blinked, then started walking off. "In that case, I guess we've got some sort of motivation then."

. . .

"Good job Shadow- you've destroyed our first building!" Omega said with praise once Shadow had slowed down.

"I didn't intend to do that- the road just sort of messed with my skating speed and that boom happened," Shadow explained, irritated.

"I'm glad it was just _that_ building, and nothing too important like this one," Rouge admitted, gesturing to the walls around them.

"What's so great about this one?" Shadow questioned, eyeing robot scraps and the well-known neon blue signs.

"It's the HEXA-eco building- I believe they're in charge of the city's power plant," Rouge explained.

"Let's ruin HEXA-eco then instead of the city," Omega offered.

"No! The entire economy as we know it would collapse! HEXA-eco is a very big deal!"

"So what? Whatever the doctor has planned is a big deal too," huffed Shadow.

The team was at a slight disagreement as they traversed the building just like the teams before them. Omega reopened any doors while Shadow was a natural at getting his group from room to room with his mysterious ability to dash through rings. It was lot quicker than Rouge flying them between areas.

By the time Team Dark had made it to the inner halls, Eggman's robots were all back in action, which pleased Shadow and Omega greatly. Shadow threw himself at the nearest robots while Omega was a hotshot with his flamethrowers. Rouge simply kicked one out of her way then battered down the next door the very same way.

"Hmph! So much for not being a power character," she smirked to herself. "Okay guys, we can keep going!"

"We're not done yet!" protested Shadow, who had grabbed a robot and flat-out smashed it against the wall. "_Now_ we're done."

Rouge rolled her eyes and carried on, with Shadow following and Omega finishing off a robot of his own. Just beyond that hall, however, was where the pole was. Shadow and Omega stared at it questioningly while Rouge excitedly jumped up and down.

"Ooh! I saw this in a movie once! Shadow, all you need to do is run around the pole really fast, and then I'll take care of the rest.

"Um…okay?"

Shadow gave Rouge one last bewildered look before circling the pole until it was hidden by a black tornado. Rouge then grabbed Omega and jumped into it.

Needless to say at this point, Shadow grabbed the pole, Rouge grabbed Shadow, and Omega held onto Rouge for as long as he could.

"Whee!"

"What kind of movies do you watch?" Shadow questioned, feeling slightly dizzy as they spiraled right off the pole and onto the upper hallway. Rouge helped Shadow up off the floor and kept moving forward.

"Mostly action movies, if you really want to know."

. . .

"…so is the company that owns this building HEXA-eco?" Cream asked, observing the giant neon blue holographic sign. Amy shrugged, busy inspecting a pole.

"Yeah, probably…"

Big blinked, wondering what Amy was doing. After giving it a long enough inspection, Amy stepped back, jumped up, swung her hammer, and a large, heart-filled tornado swirled around the pole. Grinning, she latched onto the pole and felt herself suddenly get whipped around.

"You guys, grab on, quick!"

Cream wasted no time in leaping up and gripping Amy's shoes before being spun around as well. Big was a little slower to get over there, but once his contributed his weight, the trio was flung up the pole, Amy not letting go until they reached the top.

"Woo!" Amy cheered as the three of them separated and landed on the upper platform without much trouble.

"Wow, how'd you know to do that, Amy?" Cream asked, sounding impressed.

Amy just shrugged. "It was more of a hunch…"

"Either way, it got us up here," stated Big.

"And we're back outside!" Cream cheered. "That means we're close to the plant!"

"And close to Sonic too!" added Amy, jogging away. Cream couldn't argue with that and ran after, followed by Big, who still felt overwhelmed by the vastness of the city. They ran down another path before Amy jumped on a railing and started grinding on it. Now it was Big's turn to be impressed.

"Wow, I didn't know you could do that, Amy!"

Amy giggled. "I learned a thing or two. If I can do it, then you guys can too!"

Big looked stunned. "Really? !"

Big jumped onto the rail as well, and sure enough, he was grinding the rail too.

"Yay!"

Cream looked a little apprehensive, but Amy and Big were jumping from rail to rail with ease. If _Big_ could do it, then Cream probably could too. She jumped onto the nearest rail and to her surprise, it was like she had done this her entire life.

However, as soon as Amy jumped off, Cream and Big fell right off as well. Amy heard the double thud, turned around, and laughed nervously.

"When I said you can do it only when I'm doing it…I literally meant that…"

"How come it works that way?" Big wondered, now sitting on the ground.

"I'm not sure- maybe just the influence of a speed type?"

As Amy and Big tried to figure out something with the lack of logic, Cream surveyed the surroundings and started clapping out of excitement.

"Amy! Mr. Big! We're just outside of the power plant!" she exclaimed, motioning over the large in front of them frantically. Amy and Big halted their conversation to see that Cream was right. Big cheered while Amy let out a surprised chuckle.

"All right then," she stated, turning to face the structure. "We know what we need to do, team. Onward!"

"For Chocola!" cried Cream, running through the doors.

"For Froggy!" shouted Big, tripping on his way through, but he got up rather quickly and trotted afterwards.

. . .

Needless to say, Team Sonic was intent on getting to the power plant. Sonic surfed on trails of rings, Tails carried the group from room to room, and Knuckles smashed anything he felt like smashing.

…more or less, they were mainly doing their own thing, but Sonic and Knuckles both wanted to keep doing it their own ways, while Tails was trying to use that "teamwork" that Sonic talked so highly of.

"Not unless it's absolutely necessary," Knuckles had said.

"Not unless I can't do it myself," Sonic had scoffed, even going so far as to charge into a door and break it down himself. Tails suddenly started to twitch.

"We've gotta show Eggman the "power of teamwork", remember?"

"Stop quoting me on that."

"Sorry…but don't you think that _may_ be a good idea?"

"It_ is_ a good idea- Knuckles just doesn't want to comply!"

"I can hear you," grunted the echidna, glancing at the duo and tapping his foot.

"I know you guys have your differences, and the latest debate is about something Sonic simply pointed out, but we're not going to get any farther if you two keep acting like this! Ever since we arrived in Grand Metropolis, we've done nothing but argue!"

Sonic turned away and chuckled slightly. "Hmph, must just be Eggman's influence making us act crazy, then…"

"And that- this all isn't a joke- Eggman's back, he's got something planned, and if we don't pull it together, then he's going to get away with it!"

Sonic could think of several comebacks that would _really_ tell Tails what he thought, but the look on Tails' face said that he just wanted peace. Sonic could joke around as much as he wanted to, but Tails wanted the tension between him and Knuckles to die down _somewhat_.

Sighing, Sonic placed a hand on his bro's shoulder and tried to assure him.

"Okay, Tails. Okay."

"Thank you," Tails said, calming down. "Now, if we can just get out of this building-"

"On it!"

"Wait a second-"

Sonic rushed off, blowing by Knuckles so fast, he started to spin.

"What did you say to him?" Knuckles questioned in the midst of his spinning. Tails just snagged Knuckles' wrist and took off like a rocket.

"I think we've talked enough for one setting…"

"Yeah, now's the time for action!" cheered Sonic, taking down robots that the Chaotix didn't get their hands on. Knuckles was being dragged along by Tails until the three of them were running side by side once again. Sonic was actually happy to be leading the charge, even though occasional glances behind him said that Knuckles wasn't as thrilled.

Regardless, Knuckles pushed buttons to open doors and broke down obstacles to keep Sonic's way clear, and Sonic had to commend him for at least that.

Everything went as smooth as it could get until the group reached something rather interesting…

A pole.

"Oh, I can tell this one's going to be fun," Knuckles groaned, already catching sight of the grin that Sonic suddenly donned. "I'm not going to be ready for this…"

"Well I'm ready anytime!" chortled Sonic, really catching Knuckles off guard when he abruptly began circling the pole until it became lost in a blue funnel. Knuckles eyes suddenly grew wide and he even took a step back.

"Wouldn't just climbing the thing be simpler?"

"Nope," Sonic smirked, now latching onto the pole and spinning around several times. During one of the cycles, Sonic had snagged Knuckles, and instinctively Knuckles had grabbed Tails.

"No one warns me of anything!" Tails shrieked as the trio spun rapidly around the pole until they were catapulted right off the top. Sonic threw his hands up in the air as they soared toward the upper hallway, with Knuckles gliding and Tails making good use of his namesakes.

"That was probably one of the weirdest things ever," Knuckles commented, his legs feeling like jelly as he tried to walk. Sonic grinned as he watched Knuckles flounder around.

"And it's only going to get weirder!"

Knuckles, despite his stumbling, managed to give Sonic a look.

"Only while you're around, Sonic…"

Tails sighed happily as the group continued the liberating mission.

"Why can't it be like this all the time?"

. . .

So after more failure, the Chaotix had only located four more robots, cutting the total down to fifteen left to destroy. Charmy kept constantly saying that he wanted to take the final fifteen head on, but Espio practically forbade the thought.

"I know you think taking on several robots at once is fun and all, but it's also very dangerous if you don't know what you're doing."

"But you and Vector know what you're doing!"

Vector burst out laughing. "Who're you trying to kid? Every time we fight we wing it!"

"Well then you guys can wing it again!"

"That's not the point, Charmy," grunted Espio, shooting a dark look at Vector. "What I'm trying to say is-"

The final fifteen robots suddenly descended from the sky, and they did not look happy.

"Um…ambush?"

"We're not afraid of you!" Charmy yelled, planting himself right in the middle of the pack against his team's protests. "You just came here cuz you want revenge for your fallen comrades! Well, you're not going to get it because Espio and Vector are going to reduce you to_ paper clips_!"

Clearly the robots did not take a liking to that proposition, because all guns were raised and aimed at Charmy.

"You _idiot_," Espio hissed, breaking through the circle of machines, grabbing Charmy, and busting through the robots before any of them could even fire. Vector then took Charmy's spot and spewed his fire, but this time, it hardly made a scorch mark on the robots.

"Okay, we might be screwed," Vector yelped, springing out of the circle as well. Espio glanced around nervously before pulling out his instrument and sighing.

"Recital time?"

"RECITAL TIME!" cried Charmy, pulling out his drums. "Bee, bee, bee, Charmy Bee!"

Between the bad playing and Vector belting out an earsplitting tune, the Egg Pawns surrounding them instantly exploded due to the terrible noise pollution. Once the eighty-fifth robot succumbed to the power of music, Espio sighed and put his samisen away again.

"Okay, next time, we do NOT do that unless ABSOLUTELY necessary, all right?"

"Aw, but it's fun," Charmy protested, holding up his drum.

"I know. But it's really bad when I can't even stand my _own_ singing and playing."

"Fine, Fine, we'll wait awhile before we put on another concert," Vector confirmed, taking the walkie talkie from Espio and calling up the client. "The mission has been completed."

"Good job boys!"

"Nothing more to be said," Espio added, smiling a bit as he glanced at his team.

. . .

With Tails believing that his words finally got to Sonic and Knuckles, he was happy to see that they were actually making progress. They had finally made it out of the HEXA-eco building- now all there was left to do was get to the power plant…and save the city from Eggman.

"We anywhere close, Tails?" asked Sonic, who was currently grinding on rails that lined both sides of the street. Knuckles was doing so as well, but nowhere near with as much grace and precision as Sonic did. Tails took a glance at their surroundings and shrugged.

"Er…closer than before, definitely."

"Are we lost?" Knuckles questioned with a warning tone. Tails shook his head.

"Of course not! We just keep going this way at the very least!"

"Sounds good to me," Sonic said simply, flipping off the grind rail and zipping away. The absence of Sonic on the grind rail somehow effected Knuckles, because he suddenly slipped off and fell on his back.

"What the heck…"

Seeing that neither Sonic nor Tails were going to stand around to contemplate the odd happening, Knuckles scrambled back to his feet and hurried after them. When he reached the other two, Sonic and Tails were already swinging around a pole, and they just needed Knuckles. He somewhat reluctantly grabbed Tails when he swung by, and the three of them were propelled upwards onto another blue highway.

It would have been enough if the three of them had just stood on the road, considering it had a moving desire of its own. However, when Sonic was the leader, that was not an option.

"I have got to say, I love these roads," Sonic chuckled.

"That's about the only cool thing about the city, despite its size," commented Knuckles.

"Not that Grand Metropolis has flying cars, a high tech energy plant, or the headquarters of the most well-developed company in the region contributes to anything," Tails threw in. Sonic glanced over his shoulder and shot Tails a grin.

"That's exactly what we're saying!"

"Well, regardless," Tails continued, stopping and pointing ahead. "We're here."

Knuckles was in awe. "That place is huge!"

"And Eggman wants to use it for his own purposes," snickered Sonic. "He's in for a big surprise once we bust in there!"

"Which reminds me," Knuckles interrupted, looking thoughtful. "Did we ever free the city from Eggman?"

Tails scratched his head. "Technically, no, but as soon as we go in the plant-"

The two then heard a sudden snap, and whirled around to find that Sonic had snapped a flagpole over his leg. Throwing the pieces to the ground, and stepping on the Eggman flag, he gave his team a thumbs up.

"Now we can call this city free."

. . .

"…how come I know how to do this?" wondered Shadow, grinding on the rails of the city streets.

"Must be some sort of natural talent," Rouge suggested with a shrug, though she was surprised to be doing so as well.

"I refuse to do such a stupid stunt," Omega said bluntly, traveling alongside the rail riders. "The sight of a robot on a rail is absolutely ridiculous."

"Suit yourself, Omega," Shadow stated, switching between the rails with ease. Once he was finished doing that, Rouge suddenly got excited as she pointed upwards.

"Look! There're blimps up there!"

Shadow turned and gave her a long look. "So?"

Rouge came down from her excitement high and gave Shadow the same look. "You can never be happy, can you?"

"Sorry to disappoint you, but the sight of a large balloon meant for transport is not going to get me pumped up for anything."

"You're such a downer!" Rouge scoffed, grabbed Shadow and starting to fly. "Regardless, up is the only way to go, so get thrilled for that."

"Hmph," muttered Shadow as Omega gripped his ankles. Rouge carried them up onto the first blimp, where they jumped up to the second and used that blimp to reach the roof of another building. Just like before, the view from the top was intriguing, but this time they weren't going to stand about to enjoy it.

"Wow, we're higher than we were before, huh?" Rouge asked, following Shadow over a ramp and soaring above the city.

"I'll say- those cars could very easily knock us out of the sky at any moment!" Shadow observed, nearly missing a flying yellow car.

"You can see the entire city from this point of view," Omega commented.

"Including the power plant," added Rouge. "The HEXA-eco signs are everywhere now!"

"Perhaps that should be our next target of interest?" Shadow guessed, landing on another road and tearing down it.

"Why?" countered Rouge. "So Omega can use the energy to start a fire and burn the place to the ground?"

"That does sound effective-"

Shadow gave Omega a look and turned back to Rouge. "No, so maybe we can find out more about Eggman's plans there."

"So, we're not going to destroy the city?" Omega asked, almost sounding disappointed. Shadow turned from Rouge, then to Omega, then to Rouge, then back again.

"No, Omega…I think we've done enough damage to the city already…"

Rouge broke out into a surprised grin while Omega declared that he was "feeling downcast to the extreme on the matter".

Shadow just motioned for the two of them to follow him.

"Besides, I'm sure there'll be lots of Eggman robots to annihilate."

Omega readied his guns and stormed into the building. "Must eradicate all Eggman robots!"

Rouge chuckled as she walked up to Shadow, resting her arm on his shoulder.

"And I'll be very happy to help."

* * *

><p><strong>It's so hard to make these short, because there's so much I want to include. ^^;<strong>

**And sorry for not replying too often- I get so caught up in things it slips my mind completely...**


	6. Power Plant

Because We're Sonic Heroes

Chapter 5: Power Plant

Cream was clinging to Amy tightly as Team Rose ascended up the elevator of the power plant. Sure, it looked big from the outside, but you easily learned how big it truly was from the inside. The floors were designed with hexagon patterns, lights lined every crevice and corner, and the vastness of the place could make one feel lightheaded quickly.

"Look! Those Eggman robots are guarding the machines!" Amy pointed out when the elevator stopped. "Something doesn't make sense…let's take them out first."

"Okie dokie!" Big agreed, placing Amy and Cream on his shoulders. "This shouldn't take long."

He walked up to the trio of green robots, all lined up and strictly on guard. After exchanging nods with the girls, Big hurled them at one robot each, then started smashing the third one himself. Just as Big assumed, they made quick work of the robots.

"Well then," Amy smirked, watching as a path appeared for them. "Looks like we can go beat out Sonic now!"

. . .

Team Sonic had entered the Power Plant ages ago- but like Amy had predicted, Sonic wanted to explore everything, thus putting them a little bit behind the other teams. Tails and Knuckles almost had no choice as they performed Sonic's endeavors throughout the plant, consisting of things like racing down hall, bouncing up the walls, running around the large spheres, freefalling from the upper floors…and Knuckles could only take so much.

"You know we're here for a reason, right?" Knuckles asked during one of their latest jumps from presumably what was the tenth floor down to the eighth.

"Yeah, we're here to see if Eggman fiddled around with anything in the Power Plant, and isn't _just _ciphering the power from the roads," Sonic responded airily, waving a hand as he did several midair backflips.

"Don't forget, we may possibly figure out just what the energy itself is, and what processes so much of it," added Tails. "If we find that out, then we may be able to use it against Eggman!"

"We'd find it faster if Sonic didn't waste time goofing off," grumbled Knuckles.

"It's not goofing off!" the hedgehog protested. "I'm searching for anything suspicious in my own special way, 'kay?"

Knuckles just groaned as the three of them made contact with a floor once again, along with Sonic instantly making a break for it.

. . .

"What did I tell ya?" Shadow chuckled darkly as soon as they stepped foot in the plant.

"Annihilate!" Omega practically cheered, taking aim at five Flappers that were trying to make an escape.

"This place is more impressive than I imagined!" Rouge exclaimed, eyeing everything there was to see. "It looks like were in the outer part, as well…it's almost a bit too much!"

"We're not turning back now- let's go!"

Shadow raced through the spiraling roads, with Rouge trying to gather herself and Omega shooting at each and every robot. Shadow jumped through a trio of rainbow loops, working his way to a higher path. Eventually he made his way up to the path that led into the main building. As soon as they entered, the group skid to a stop and Omega leapt in front of them.

"Eggman's robots protecting unidentified machines," he informed the others, lighting up his flamethrower. "Eliminate the robots first!"

"Not that you'd give us a chance," Rouge mumbled as several explosions occurred afterward.

. . .

Team Chaotix, as usual, only ended up in the same place as everyone else thanks to their client. They never had any plans to head to the power plant, but there they were, walking around inside the most important building in Grand Metropolis.

"Here's your next mission," the client had told them. "There are gold turtle robots somewhere in this city. Those turtles control the system of the city itself. Find and destroy three of them!"

It didn't take long for the "seasoned" detectives to deduce that the turtles were probably located in the power plant. The only question in their minds was why they needed to be destroyed.

"Maybe that's how Eggman's transferring the energy to his robots," suggested Charmy.

"Yes, but if those turtles control the city itself, wouldn't Grand Metropolis be thrown out of whack?" Espio retorted thoughtfully.

"How do we know that the city's not already out of whack because of the turtles," pointed out Vector. "Ah…whatever. We just gotta destroy the three things with no questions asked!"

. . .

Team Rose was very surprised at the technology that flowed throughout the energy plant. Neon was plastered on every wall, paths moved them up, down, and even along the walls, plus it had a huge round sphere that dropped them to a lower level after spinning them several times.

"Ooog…that made my head spin…" Cream said woozily, with Big having to hold her up.

"The spinning's not over yet!" Amy called as she ran onto a spiraling blue road. Cream felt dizzy all over again as they corkscrewed their way through. The road ended with a ramp that brought them even higher up into the plant.

"We sure are getting up high, huh?" Big asked, glancing over the edge.

"The plant itself must be several stories high," Amy pointed out. "It is, after all, the largest building in Grand Metropolis, and that's saying something!"

Cream then carried her team to a high ledge before Amy took control again. They carried on until they came to a suspicious looking blue wall.

"I feel lighter when I fly close to this thing…" Cream realized.

"This place is more high tech than I thought!" cheered Amy, walking up the side of the wall with Big. They then ended up running upside down before the road twisted right side up again. A trio of Boost Pads were then waiting for them, so they got in power formation with Big charging on through.

. . .

With the way forward clear, it was like running into a warzone. Eggman's robots were scattered in each and every room, and each and every one was terminated by Team Dark. Shadow was a black streak as he spin dashed robots, Rouge eagerly kicked and trashed the machines, while Omega did was he did best and-

"Eradicate all Eggman robots!"

Yeah.

"This is almost sort of fun," laughed Rouge as her heel sliced through another clunker.

"See? Destruction can bring some good things!"

"That doesn't make ruining a city okay," Rouge huffed to Shadow in return. Shadow just shrugged and demolished the last robot. Rouge then took the lead to carry the group to a higher level…only to be greeted by flying enemies.

"Rouge, attack the flying enemies by using Thunder Shoot," Shadow ordered, already bracing himself.

"…"

"…don't tell me you have no idea what I'm talking about."

"I know what you're saying," Rouge retorted. "I'm just unsure about pulling it off with Omega…"

"If you can carry him several stories, you can toss him in an electric field, I'm sure."

"All right then…"

Rouge hurled Shadow at the first airborne robot, striking it right down the middle. Then when she grabbed Omega, she felt the weight of the robot, but nevertheless threw the killing machine as well. Omega sparked with electricity as he crashed into other robots, and boy, did it feel satisfying. Once he landed back on the ground, he readied his turrets and started firing like crazy.

"We're going to have our hands full later on," Shadow concluded, clearing out another trio of robots and opening up the next path. "Be ready for anything."

"You just keep on keeping up," Rouge smirked, already rushing off. Shadow clenched his fist and followed, while Omega once again brought up the back due to still fighting off the waves of robots.

. . .

Tails marveled at the solar panels spinning around by the windows and the hover cars entering and exiting the building, while Knuckles paid more attention to more important things- such as Eggman robots messing with the machines that were scattered everywhere. He glanced up at Sonic, who wasn't paying the _least_ bit of attention to _anything_, and poked him.

"Hey! What, knucklehead?"

"Don't call me that," Knuckles started off frigidly. Then, he added, "I thought you were looking for suspicious activity?"

"I am," Sonic replied back, somewhat annoyed. "If you start yelling at me for not "doing it the right way" again I'll-"

"What do you call that?" Knuckles interrupted, pointing at three robots working levers and buttons located on a wall to their right. Sonic disappeared for a single second, a second in which Knuckles had chosen to blink. A mere moment later, Sonic had on a small coy smile, but simply shrugged and kept moving on.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Are you blind? ! There're robots messing with some sort of controls right there! They're clearly up to something with those machines!"

Sonic's coy grin never faltered. "_What_ robots?"

Knuckles was about to yell again when he did a double check- sure enough, there were certainly no robots messing with anything…

…just a few robots parts resting under said controls.

As soon as Knuckles had caught on to what had happened, Sonic broke out into another sprint, with Tails sensing a rampage on the horizon and quickly following after Sonic. Knuckles, however, sucked in a very deep breath, and continued to jog after his team…all while trying not to explode.

. . .

Team Dark raced through the power plant, surrounded by chaos everywhere they looked. But despite that, Rouge felt relatively at ease. Shadow, Rouge, and Omega- it had such a nice ring, she thought to herself.

The section of the power plant they were currently in had several speed paths, with some of them ascending up the walls. They ended up in a room with five robots, but they were transformed into scrap within moments.

"No problem, let's keep going," smirked Shadow.

"I guess we'll be taking the elevator," Rouge realized, sitting on the edge of one as it started to go up.

"It is fueled by the red energy that powers everything else," noted Omega as he climbed on.

"Well what else would fuel it?" Shadow questioned. "We're in the place that powers the whole city, after all."

Once the elevator came to a stop, Omega jumped off and ordered Shadow and Rouge to line up next to him. As soon as they were in power formation, they ran over Boost Pads and careened through the current floor.

As they did, they actually got a decent look at their surroundings- blue paths connected the floors, solar panels spun around towards the top of the building, the large metal spheres hung around here and there, and it seemed like everything was at work.

"Eggman really could get a use at taking over a place like this," mumbled Rouge.

"Even though his robots are patrolling everywhere, there's been no sign of Eggman," Shadow pointed out just as he jumped onto a grind rail.

"He came this way, and sensors are correct," added Omega.

"I know that. I'm just saying it's odd that he hasn't appeared yet…"

"What if he just came through to fuel his robots and then left again?" wondered Rouge. "Especially when he knows there's someone coming after him…"

"You probably know him better than I do, so that sounds about right," Shadow stated. Rouge pressed her lips together as she scratched the back of her head.

"Oh, you'd be surprised…"

. . .

Back with the Chaotix, they weren't having much luck with locating the gold turtles. Charmy was just surprised that he had taken the lead as much as had- between high ledges and flying enemies, it was the most action the bee had ever been in on during a mission.

However, it wasn't so pleasant for Espio and Vector, considering Charmy had dropped them every time due to his excitement. Not only that, but it was really bad that Charmy got such a kick out of walking up the walls.

"This is so cool! Why can't these be everywhere?" he laughed as he walked up to the next level.

"Because of people like you," grumbled Espio as he floated upwards while being upside down.

"Just don't go buzzing around too fast, Charmy," Vector ordered, but his warning fell on deaf ears. By the time Espio and Vector had reached the next level, Charmy was jumping from robot to robot and hopping between elevating platforms. He then flew his way up once again and let out a shriek.

"It's a gold turtle!" he wailed.

Vector and Espio were there almost instantly, taking out the robots that guarded the turtle within the same moment. Once they were all dispatched, the gold turtle realized his body guards were gone and started firing projectiles at the group. Espio rolled quickly out of the way as Vector said, "We can't harm that golden shell of his!"

"Then let's make him vulnerable," Espio said with a smirk, performing Leaf Storm on the turtle. It effectively flipped the turtle right over, allowing Vector to keep it in place with his gum while Charmy attacked it with Thunder Shoot. As soon as it was dispatched, the client called and announced,

"There's just two left!"

"We know, we know," Espio confirmed, clicking the communication to off.

. . .

"Hmm? There's something here…" Big pointed out in the next area. The two girls looked around him to see several robots on guard again, but this time they were generating an electric field. Amy then put on a grin and started twirling her hammer.

"I've got this one, guys," she chuckled, bringing down her mighty mallet hard on the robots. They shattered instantly, and their electric field crackled out of existence as well. This cleared the way to another anti-gravity wall, which brought them to an important looking room.

"How do we get out of here?" Big asked while breaking more robots.

"Forget that for a moment- check this out!" Amy exclaimed, looking out the only window in the room. Trucks rushed in and out of view, all of them either hauling something in or out.

"Impressive," Cream admitted. "This place must be really busy…"

"Especially with Eggman lurking around somewhere," added Amy. "Anyway, Cream, take the lead!"

"I'll do my best!"

Once in fly formation, Cream lifted the group out of the tight chamber and kept flying until they reached what was presumably the next level. Another elevator rested in the middle of the room, so they all jumped on board and ascended once again.

. . .

Once Knuckles finally managed to swallow his anger, which took quite a bit of effort, needless to say, he noticed that Sonic seemed to be slightly more attentive to the things going on around him. The deeper they went into the Power Plant, the more antics-caused-by-robots they found. Some messed with controls, which were taken care of by Sonic, some were screwing around with things in the ceiling, which were put out of commission by Tails, and some were ciphering the energy flowing through the walls, which were handled personally by Knuckles.

"Sheesh, they're like energy vampires or something," Sonic said with a chuckle, causing Knuckles to groan.

"I just wish I had a way to analyze just what this energy was!" Tails exclaimed, watching as some of it formed a puddle on the ground after he had demolished a robot. "That would help explain why Eggman wanted it so badly…"

"Well, it's energy either way," Sonic pointed out. "If I were him, I'd want to get my hands on it no matter what type it was, especially if it was almost endlessly processed."

"You're right," Tails agreed, stepping away from the puddle.

"So where do we go from here?" questioned Knuckles. "I mean, yeah there are robots wrecking stuff, but what exactly should we do about it?"

"We know they're after the energy," Tails stated. "But if we want them to leave, the best thing we could do is simply prevent them from being able to take the energy."

Knuckles rolled his eyes and folded his arms. "You make that sound easy."

"Well, maybe it is! If we locate the power source, all I'd need to is redirect the energy flow so that it still delivers power to the city, but in a way that the robots can't get to it."

"Hmmm…that plan will almost work…" pondered Sonic, looking thoughtful and tapping his foot. Both Tails and Knuckles whirled around and gaped at him.

"What do you mean "almost"?" Tails questioned, almost as if he couldn't believe Sonic had found a flaw in his plan.

"Think about it- the main power source is bound to be locked up well. After all, if it wasn't, just about anyone could've strolled in there, hooked up a pipe or something, and literally drained the city dry. Considering that hasn't happened, not even the robots have managed to get in there, and it's not very like that we can…easily."

"Wow, impressive," Knuckles whistled. Sonic instantly beamed.

"What, that I figured all that out by myself?"

"No, more of the fact you managed to make sense of that is intriguing."

Sonic made a face and turned away from Knuckles. "Oh, shut up. I probably know more about mechanical stuff than you do, so I wouldn't be talking!"

"Sonic probably is right through," interrupted Tails.

"About me knowing more than Knuckles?"

"No… I meant that the reason why the robots were ciphering from the roads and the walls is because they can't get to the main power source."

"If that's true though, how do you propose we get in?" Knuckles asked.

"I guess we'll see when we get there!" Sonic called, bolting off once again. Tails instinctively took off after, leaving Knuckles behind to say,

"I really wish he'd stop doing that."

. . .

Team Dark, once they had gotten past the grinding endeavor, had taken to rushing through the halls, rooms, and floors once again. The next time they came to a stop was only because of a robotic turtle.

"That thing's practically indestructible," Shadow announced, rubbing his head after making the mistake of trying to spin dash it.

"That turtle's shell is designed to protect him even against my powerful attacks," informed Omega. "We have to find another way!"

"And it looks like that's not the only one!" Rouge exclaimed as five more green turtle robots started to advance towards them.

"We could easily get away," Shadow pointed out, pulling out the green Chaos Emerald and tossing it from hand to hand. "But where's the fun in that?"

Just before the turtles got close enough to them to do something serious, a vibrant "Chaos Control!" rang out, followed by time freezing and a large pink laser beam wiping out everything in sight.

Regardless of what Omega had said, Chaos Inferno never failed.

Feeling a bit proud of himself but refusing to show it, Shadow put the Chaos Emerald away and ran forward. Rouge set Omega back on the ground as they followed after. Omega took the low way, clearing out enemies on the ground, Rouge flew form several conveniently placed platforms, and Shadow used the midair Flappers to work his way to the other side.

Once the three of them made it to the other end in their own ways, Shadow took the lead as they jumped onto a grind rail.

"I am completely against this endeavor," Omega mumbled, trying to keep his balance on the rail.

"It's not that bad Omega," assured Rouge, who actually enjoyed the feeling of riding a rail several feet into the air. Or course, she also had the ability to fly if she fell off, which Omega didn't. Shadow just didn't care either way- as long as it got him to where he needed to go.

. . .

"Charmy, stop goofing off in that sphere right now!"

"But it's fun and my head feels really weird!" the bee cried back, stilling zooming around in several circles. Espio just rested his face in his palm while Vector continued to yell. Eventually Charmy became so dizzy that he shot out of the top of the sphere and were spiraling into the distance. Vector and Espio exchanged glances before taking off after him.

"That idiot! He's hindering the mission!" exclaimed Espio.

"Forget the mission- he probably broke something important wherever he landed!" Vector muttered.

The two of them hunted down Charmy, running down blue paths, walking up walls, jumping from robot to robot, and making sure they didn't lose their flight member.

"Just what we needed," Espio complained endlessly as he and Vector tore through the power plant. Several robots had been alerted to the ruckus they were causing, but the duo made short work of them in seconds.

It wasn't until they found the second turtle that they found Charmy.

He was happily buzzing around the shield that surrounded the gold turtle, easily avoiding the projectiles stray robots were launching at the bee. Espio darted in quickly, crunching one robot with a well-placed ninja kick.

"Charmy, what do ya think you're doing?" Vector asked as he trapped the remaining robots in bubble gum. Charmy just gave Vector a big grin.

"I found the second gold turtle all by myself, without any help from either of you! Isn't it great?"

"Except that we're probably going to owe HEXA-eco thousands for the destruction we caused hunting for you," retorted Espio, clearly not enjoying that thought.

"We can't even pay our own rent!" wailed Vector. Espio made a face.

"Way to remind me…"

After the exchange, Vector finished off the surrounding robots while Espio flipped the gold turtle onto its back. Charmy then grabbed Vector and used Thunder Shoot to dispatch it once and for all.

"Now there's just one more!" he chirped, still feeling proud of himself despite Espio and Vector's complaints.

. . .

With somewhat of a plan in mind, Team Sonic worked their way through the massive building, in search of what could possibly be the main power source, taking out a series of robots along the way. However, at one point they did get stuck in the elevator.

"Oh, great," Sonic groaned. "I hate elevators."

Tails gave him a quizzical look. "And why's that?"

"They're too slow."

"Ignore the speed of the elevator and help me turn these robots into scrap!" Knuckles cried, trying to fend off a sudden ambush. Sonic and Tails were by his side instantly, the three of them suddenly surrounded by at least ten Flappers and three regular Egg Pawns.

"This could end badly…" Tails gulped.

"It's nothing a little teamwork couldn't help," Sonic said with a smirk, standing in a fierce battle position. Knuckles snorted.

"Oh, yeah, and what sort of teamwork do you have in mind this time?"

"Just grab Tails and get ready to toss him."

Both Tails and Knuckles dropped their jaws as their eyes bugged out at Sonic. "What? !"

Sonic ducked under several missiles and shouted, "Just do it, now! Tails get ready to grab me when I jump!"

"Okay then?" Tails replied apprehensively, grabbing Sonic just as he jumped. This was followed by Knuckles grabbing Tails by the ankles and beginning to spin around. Sonic and Tails swept into the surrounding robots, dazing them all. After what seemed like forever, Knuckles released Tails, sending both him and Sonic high above the ground. Tails then tossed Sonic up, who curled into ball form, then kicked him down at the onslaught of robots.

"Blast away!" Sonic shouted before disappearing into a blur as he destroyed each and every robot on the spot. Knuckles and Tails had a hard time keeping up with him, and by the time Sonic was finished, they were cross-eyed and utterly confused.

"And that's one way to spice up a trip on the elevator!" Sonic commented, dusting off his hands. Tails and Knuckles, however, promptly fell over.

. . .

"Ah, so what's next for us?" Rouge asked, back with Team Dark. She was looking into the next room, but she had no idea what it was for until Omega walked up and said,

"That would be an elevator, Rouge."

"I knew that- it's just so high tech I thought it was something more!"

"I bet it leads to the top of the plant," Shadow deduced as he entered it. "It only makes sense…"

"Only one way to find out!" Rouge exclaimed as the elevator roared to life. Robots even lurked around the elevator, but they were hardly a threat with Omega making them his primary target. Shadow and Rouge, meanwhile, walked around, Shadow investigating while Rouge was admiring the genius behind the construction.

Once it stopped, Shadow was back on track and racing off once again. Rouge groaned, struggling to follow.

…she then turned around to grab Omega and drag him away from the final few machines.

"They must be exterminated!"

"Give it a rest, Omega!"

. . .

The Chaotix bounded walls, grinded on rails, flew over oddly placed chasms, and left piles of robot parts in their wake…but the final gold turtle was nowhere to be found. Charmy searched high, Vector searched low, and Espio searched where no one thought to look, but it was all futile.

"We're never gonna find it," Charmy moped, flying over Espio's shoulder. "How come the first two were so easy?"

"Maybe the final one is tucked away somewhere secure because it's the main turtle controlling the plant," Espio suggested.

"That would explain why we haven't come across it yet," agreed Vector.

"But we're detectives!" whined Charmy hopelessly. "We should have, you know, detected it by now!"

Espio grabbed Charmy and brought him down to a lower level. "Patience, Charmy…things reveal themselves in time…"

Vector instantly groaned. "The last thing we need is some ancient ninja proverb…"

"Hmph," Espio grunted, glaring at Vector. "You're the supposed leader- what do you say we should do?"

"We just have to keep looking, that's all…"

"Brilliant," Espio muttered, the three of them beginning to run towards a blue road. It twisted and turned, swirling its way through the air, leading the group to a higher part of the power plant. Charmy watched as delivery hover trucks came and went, probably on the fritz after Eggman's takeover. He would've spoke up about it, but with how intent Vector and Espio were about finding the final turtle, Charmy thought against it.

. . .

Not that Team Dark knew, but they were now exploring the area that Team Rose trekked through. Between the large sphere scrambling their heads, the corkscrew in the middle of it all, and more delivery trucks flying around, it was basically the same experience.

"Energy mass approaching. Stay clear of them."

"What're you talkin' about Omega?" Rouge started to ask until she turned around to face what was probably a living fireball. She jumped away instantly while Shadow snagged her wrist and dragged her up another path. Omega useless tried firing at the energy balls, but to no avail as expected.

"That was definitely weird," Rouge stated, still being pulled along by Shadow.

"You would have never noticed them if Omega hadn't said something."

"I know- at least Omega looks out for me."

"I pulled you away from that threat- give me some credit."

Rouge smirked. "Yeah, but you're more of a guy that does things for himself and only helps others if it benefits him."

Shadow frowned and narrowed his eyes. "Hey, I-"

"Not necessarily saying that's a bad thing, considering you don't take anything from anybody…and I like that about you."

Shadow's sentence quickly died off, leaving the hedgehog to only blink. "…okay."

Rouge actually started to laugh, but her happiness was short lived when Omega's bulky frame jumped in front of them once again.

"Worthless consumer models!"

"Here we go again," Shadow groaned, running around the room and clearing out any robots Omega hadn't gotten to yet. After that, Rouge carried the group up to the next level, which was filled with robots and fireballs.

"Oh, isn't that a nice combination," sighed Rouge, flying up above all the chaos.

"Just leave it to us then, Rouge," Shadow grunted, turning into a black funnel with how fast he moved around. This was complimented nicely with Omega's ammunition. Rouge shielded herself from the debris and sparks flying everywhere, and when she looked again, everything was wrecked, including Shadow and Omega.

"…you guys get way too into it."

. . .

"Omigosh! I so need those walls for my room!" Amy squealed, eyeing the pulsing green and black hexagonal walls. "Of course, they'd need to be pink to match my personality…"

"Definitely, Amy," Cream agreed half-heartedly. She just wanted to get out of the room before more robots showed up. She took the lead in flight formation once more, carrying the ground through midair loops that sent them higher. It was a little nerve racking being so high above any ground, but Cream maintained her cool and brought the group to the next area with little trouble.

…at least, until they reached the grind rail.

"Cream, swap out! Swap out!" Amy cried, fear suddenly surging through her.

"If I do that, then you and Big will fall!"

"We're fine in flight formation," Big said calmly.

"Yeah, when we're not teetering from side to side on a grind rail," hissed Amy.

"All Cream has to do is keep us balanced," explained Big. "I'm sure the cute rabbit can do it."

"I can only say I'll do my best…" Cram promised, trying to follow the path of the rail. There was sweet relief when she reached the end, where a spring sent then careening to the next level. What was even more fortunate for the group was that they had found the way out.

"Good job Cream!" Amy cheered. "Now all we have to do is wait out here until Sonic comes!"

"What if he doesn't come though?" Big dared to ask. Amy rubbed her hands together as she exited back out to the outside world.

"Oh, he'll come all right…he'll come…"

. . .

After Rouge refused to continue on until Shadow and Omega were back up to par, the group continued purifying the plant from Eggman. Omega still spoke of flat-out bringing the plant down to nothing but rubble, but his idea was constantly shot down.

"Man, I've been carrying you two a lot lately," Rouge realized as they were flying around once again.

"This place has a lot of areas that lack a floor," Shadow stated with a shrug. "It just makes me wonder how anyone that works here gets around."

"You know, all the boost pads, spring, super-fast pathways…you're just lucky you have me."

"Scanners indicate we will be approaching the end soon," Omega informed. "What course of action should be taken- continued to destroy the plant, or leave this place and continue the search for Eggman?"

"We have to go find Eggman eventually," Rouge sighed. "I just wish there was more we could do…"

"The problem will take care of itself when we take care of Eggman," Shadow said as Rouge brought them down for a landing. When Rouge's feet hit the floor, a realization hit her.

"You're right, Shadow!"

"When am I wrong?"

"Don't get me started. But if we get Eggman, then everything will just…go back to normal!"

"Yes," Shadow confirmed, walking next to Rouge as she started up with her speech.

"You can question him to death, Omega can get his revenge- and death is not a requirement- and then I can make him mine and get a promotion from the president!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Shadow interrupted, skidding in front of Rouge. "A promotion from the president?"

"Yeah," Rouge shrugged. "I guess you didn't know that I work for the government."

"You're a jewel purloiner that is also a law enforcer?" Omega questioned. "Does not compute."

"I was hired because of my thieving skills, actually," Rouge explained. "But I'd hate to bore you with the details- let's just go get Eggman!"

"I'm fine with that," Shadow said instantly, skating off.

"Prepare to be exterminated, Eggman!" Omega shouted in his own robotic way. Rouge silently cheered to herself as Shadow led the group through the final stretch of the power plant.

. . .

"Gold! A sparkle of gold!" Vector cried out of the blue, making Espio and Charmy yelped. "I think it came from somewhere over there!"

The crocodile pointed downwards, at a golden glow at least three floors below them. The group was currently positioned at the top of the elevator shaft, but the elevator itself was down below picking someone else up.

"I really hope you're not thinking to jump down there," Espio groaned.

"Why do that when we can just fly!" exclaimed Charmy, grabbing Espio and violently whisking him off the edge.

"CHARMY!"

"Wait for me!" Vector shouted, jumping up and latching onto Espio's boots. Espio was ranting up a storm as Charmy gently lowered them to the floor where the final turtle rested- Vector's quick eye had actually helped them out.

"I wonder if we passed it before," Vector pondered as they landed, this time without receiving any injury in the process.

"Just as long as we take it out now," Espio huffed, tossing his ninja stars and striking the surrounding robots. They all began to spark wildly as Vector finished them off by throwing Charmy. Espio then quickly rushed over to the gold turtle and ran around it, just like the previous ones. It was helplessly flipped onto its back, with Charmy finishing it off with a final Thunder Shoot.

"And that's that," Espio stated, brushing his hand across his forehead. "It could've been worse."

"Good job boys!" their client's voice crackled to life on the communicator, right on cue. "Now the Power Plant should go back to operating normally, and Grand Metropolis should return to the thriving city it once was!"

"That's good to hear," Vector admitted. "I guess there's nothing left for us to do here."

"That's right- now head to the top of the Power Plant, and you should be able to see your next destination- Casino Park. Once you locate it, head that way and I'll give you further instruction."

The sounds from the walkie talkie instantly died out, leaving the three to their own accord once more. Espio looked up, then looked down, and jumped on the elevator that was beginning to ascend.

"Well, what're we waiting for?" he asked. "We should probably get going to the roof."

"We just finish a mission and you're eager for the next one," sighed Vector.

"Do you want to get paid?"

"Yeah, yeah, but there's really no rush…"

"Casino Park sounds like fun!" Charmy stated, completely off topic. Espio and Vector stared at him briefly, but just shrugged and waited for the elevator to reach the top, not knowing what they were about to get into…

. . .

Tails and Knuckles were still mind blown after the elevator escapade, but Sonic just marched on like it was no big deal. What blew his mind was that they still hadn't found any sign of where the main power generator was.

"We've searched this whole place at least twice…" Sonic muttered to himself. "What exactly did we miss?"

As he tried to think it over, a gleam of something shiny caught his eye, and he turned to see what it was.

Hanging rather conspicuously on a hook on the wall was a key- and an important looking key at that.

Sonic walked over to the key and lifted it off the wall, tossing it around in his hand. For being obviously placed, he thought to himself, it certainly wasn't some sort of fake.

"Hey you guys," Sonic called, holding out the key. "Check out what I found!"

Tails and Knuckles whirled around, witnessing Sonic now spinning the key on his finger.

"Hey, a key!" Knuckles exclaimed, walking over to examine it. "Where'd you find it?"

"On the wall," Sonic replied, now balancing it on his nose. "It's definitely the real deal though, so no worries."

"I wonder what it goes to…"

"Perhaps the main power generator?" Tails suggested hopefully. Sonic nodded.

"I hope so- that means we're getting close!"

Luckily for them, it didn't take them long to reach the center of the plant itself, where a huge door with a big lock prevented access to the very center room. The windows that looked into it revealed a large machine pumping the red liquid energy out of it. Tails let out an excited shriek as Knuckles nodded to Sonic, telling him to try and unlock the door. Sonic complied, taking the key and thrusting in the lock. He turned it slightly, causing a satisfying click to emerge afterwards.

"It worked! We found it! Yes!" Tails cheered, practically dancing in midair.

"Calm down, little buddy," Sonic chuckled. "This isn't over yet…"

He took a few cautious steps into the room before casually jogging to the large machine located smack dab in the middle. Knuckles walked in next, appearing uninterested, while Tails was overwhelmed by all the technological advances.

"Oh wow, oh WOW!" Tails chipped. "No wonder Grand Metropolis is grand- just look at this power supply! It's amazing! I could power the Tornado forever if I had even just one tank of this stuff!"

"I like the color," Knuckles said simply, receiving a look from Tails.

"Knuckles! You're staring at a technological wonder and all you can appreciate is the color of the energy? !"

"Woah, sorry to demean your big bad mechanical fascination there, Tails."

Tails groaned and turned away. "You're at least slightly interested in this, aren't you, Sonic?"

When Tails didn't get a reply, he felt his heart skip a beat. However, his heart started beating faster when Knuckles shouted, "What are you doing, you idiot? !"

The fox glanced over his shoulder to see Sonic pulling on something contained within the giant grey machine. Tails yelped crazily as Knuckles ran over to yank Sonic away. However, Sonic apparently got what he was so desperately pulling for, but it came out so fast the force sent Sonic to the ground.

Also, due to removing whatever object that was, several alarms started going off.

"What did you do? !" Knuckles roared, his voice several octaves higher than intended to be.

"Whatever he did, he broke that energy storage tank!" Tails shouted, pointing at the suddenly burst glass and overflowing energy. He grabbed Sonic and Knuckles and brought them to higher ground, watching as the energy began to rise.

"Wow! What's that? !" Sonic exclaimed.

"That's going to be our death bed soon!" Knuckles snapped back. "You just HAD to mess with the machine!"

"But Knuckles-"

"Nice going there, hero!"

"But I-"

"You really did it this time!"

Sonic refused to reply again, the glow of the energy rapidly rising reflecting off his green eyes…

. . .

Team Dark was a little peeved that their hunt for Eggman was hindered by something as trivial as another elevator, but as soon as it reached the top, they were off like a rocket. They hardly stopped for anything- Omega took out robots in single shots, Rouge kept their motivation alive by chatting about how great it would be when they finally caught Eggman, and Shadow kept them moving quickly.

Whether they went down a blue path, around a sphere, or flying in the air, Team Dark was currently unstoppable.

Until they reached what was presumably the center of the power plant.

"Could this be…an energy storage tank?" Shadow wondered, as all three of them watched as the red energy as literally being churned in a large containment chamber.

"It's rising up from below!" shrieked Rouge, not liking the sight of that.

"Emergency alert! Use the outdoor stairs to evacuate," Omega broadcasted.

"Thanks for that newsflash, Omega…"

"Guess we're getting out of here after all!" Rouge exclaimed, flying the group to the top as fast as her wings would allow.

"Up to you, Rouge," Shadow said quietly, eyeing the energy rising up to them like radioactive lava.

"I know, I know…"

Omega was trying to ease his inner panic alarm by trying to calculate just how lethal that much energy was as a whole, while Shadow was trying really hard not to think about what would happen if Rouge didn't make it.

On the other hand, that was all Rouge could think about.

"Can't fail, can't fail, don't want to drown in oozing red-orange energy…not after getting this far…"

Her wings were killing her at this point, between her flight speed and the extra weight, but she refused to give up. As she continued the straining ascent, Shadow tried to keep his mind focused on something else.

"Those barrier generators look just like the ones we saw earlier…maybe if we destroy the robots, the devices should fall too."

"How can we take them out if I'm trying to get us out alive?"

Shadow raised an eyebrow in annoyance. "Thunder Shoot, maybe?"

"…I suppose…"

Just before they reached the exit, three robots and a barrier blocked their way. Rouge nervously hurled Shadow and Omega at them while she used her Tornado Kick to finish off the third. The three of them then found themselves standing on the ledge just as the energy was starting to creep up on them.

"I'll take it from here!" Shadow announced, grabbing Rouge who grabbed Omega in turn. The hedgehog ran full speed into a nearby spring, the team ricocheting upwards until they broke out of the containment chamber and emerged back into daylight. Everyone let go of each other to calm down and to take deep breaths.

"That was way too close," Rouge panted, scooting away from where they had just barely escaped from.

"We still made it out, perfect as always," Shadow huffed, feeling a bit shaken up himself.

"Now we can recommence the hunting of Eggman!" Omega exclaimed, being the only one that wasn't fearing for their lives during the escapade.

"Yeah, you're right," Rouge gasped out, standing up and walking it off. "And after that, I'm not going to let anyone get in my way…"

**Meanwhile-**

"Get to the top, quick!" Sonic ordered Tails, who was struggling to get his friends up to safety.

"We wouldn't be in this mess if you didn't touch anything!" growled Knuckles. "That's, like, the number one rule!"

"All the platforms are sinking!" Tails cried, glancing down and watching potential safety being consumed by the glowing liquid.

"This whole thing is Sonic's fault! We find the energy generator and what happens? He breaks the darned thing and we're running for our lives!"

"I get the point, I'm clearly an idiot who shouldn't mess with certain things," Sonic growled, irritated. "I'm sorry, all right? I didn't know that something like this would happen! You'd have to agree that I'm not that smart to predict something like that, right?"

"Well, I-"

"Look, we'll get outta here, we'll be fine, you can finish chewing me out for all I'm worth, and then we can figure out what we'll do next, m'kay?"

"Sheesh, you're doing all the work for me," Knuckles huffed.

"Stop it!" Tails pleaded, sounding very weary. "It's really hard to get us all out of here when you two are busy going at it! You two have got to get along if we're gonna make it out of here!"

"Hmph, so you're saying if we stop arguing we'll get out of here faster? Ha, okay," grunted Knuckles.

"Knuckles!" Sonic snapped again.

"What? All I said was-"

"If you keep arguing I'll drop you both and save myself!"

"You wouldn't do that!" Sonic and Knuckles said simultaneously, Sonic sounding worried while Knuckles was more sarcastic.

"…well no, but you two are making me feel like I should."

Sonic and Knuckles exchanged guilty glances as Tails continued to bring them to the top. The exit to the roof was already unblocked, so Tails tossed Sonic and Knuckles up there and flew himself out before the hazardous energy could get to them. Sonic rolled all the way out to the edge before stopping while Knuckles bounced on his head twice. Tails landed rather gracefully on the ground before collapsing forward with exhaustion.

"…is everyone all right?" Sonic asked after quickly scooting away from the edge.

"Besides a few bumps and possible brain damage, I'm fine," Knuckles replied dryly. Sonic ignored Knuckles for the time being and rushed over to Tails.

"How about you, bro?"

"I'm fine…just the…intensity of the moment kinda took a toll…' he huffed. "I just need a breather, s'all…"

Sonic sighed in relief and rubbed his temples- that was way too close, even for his liking. He could almost feel that energy brushing against his feet…

"So tell me, you blue moron," Knuckles began, standing back up. "What possessed you to fiddle with the generator in the first place? If you give me a legitimate reason maybe I won't be so hard on you."

"This is why," Sonic retorted hastily, throwing something in Knuckles direction. Knuckles stumbled a bit to catch the object, but once it was settled in his palm he gasped slightly.

"…okay, so maybe you had the right idea, but did you have to cause such a ruckus to fish it out?"

Sonic shrugged. "What else was I supposed to do?"

"What is it? What is it?" Tails asked, getting back on his feet and wobbly making his way over. Sonic snatched the object back from Knuckles and held it out so Tails could see. His eyes nearly popped out of his head. "The Power Plant was run by a Chaos Emerald? !"

"Apparently so," Sonic answered, tossing the emerald from hand to hand. "Though I have no idea why the energy was red, considering this is the dark blue emerald…"

"Probably because that machine neutralized it all," Knuckles pointed out.

"Well… the city still has plenty of energy to run off of before it runs out, and before then, I'm sure they'll figure out a way to get some generating again," Tails deduced. "So, I'm sure it'll be okay if we take the Chaos Emerald."

"What about Eggman's robots?" Knuckles asked. "Won't they still be able to leech the energy for themselves?"

"Hmph, you guys think I just pulled the Chaos Emerald out without thinking of that?" Sonic smirked. "I pressed a few buttons to up the security around the distribution pipes in the roads and the walls before pulling out the emerald- I think everything'll be okay."

"How'd you know what to do?" Knuckles questioned suspiciously.

"There was a button that said "Press for electric security field around distribution pipes"- I happen to be able to read, you know."

Knuckles smacked his forehead. "Only for Sonic…"

"So, I guess we can get going now, eh?" Sonic started, beginning to walk away.

"Not so fast, Sonic…" came a voice from seemingly nowhere.

However, it was a voice that made Sonic's quills stand on end and for him to briefly stop breathing.


	7. Sonic vs Rose! Dark vs Chaotix!

Because We're Sonic Heroes

Chapter 6: Sonic vs. Rose! Dark vs. Chaotix!

"Gotcha, my _darling_ Sonic!"

"Amy? !" Sonic gaped, sputtering out the words. "What're _you_ doing here?"

Team Sonic and Team Rose were positioned on one side of the roof of the Power Plant, with Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles looking stunned while Amy, Cream, and Big looked like they meant business- for once.

"Sonic, this time there's no way out of marrying me!" Amy declared, striking a pose and giving Sonic a flirty smile. Sonic returned the gesture with an intimate glare.

"Hmph, marriage? No. Way."

As he folded his arms to confirm his proposition, Amy just scoffed and shook her head. "Sonic, give up! This time you're mine."

"Amy, knock it off!" Sonic shouted, but no sooner had he said that did Amy pounce on him like he was prey. "There's no time to play!"

"Who said I'm playing?" Amy replied somewhat seriously, wrestling with Sonic until they both fell on the ground. "You're not getting up until you promise to marry me!"

And thus…a bunch of confused chaos ensued.

"Everybody- get out of the way!" Tails ordered, flying high above the others. "We don't have time to deal with you!"

"We just want our friends back!" exclaimed Big, pointing at Sonic. "I just want Froggy…"

"Are you playing with that girl's heart again, Sonic?" Knuckles teased meanwhile, sitting on a crate placed next to Sonic and Amy. He looked very amused at the situation; despite knowing just as well as the others did that there was no time to mess around. Sonic very briefly turned red before glowering at Knuckles.

"I'm not playing- I'm serious! Amy, get off of me before I accidentally hurt you!"

"I'm not falling for that, Sonic!" Amy retorted, not moving an inch. "As soon as I do you're going to make a break for it!"

"Fine- you asked for it!"

Sonic kicked out his leg, sending Amy flying across the rooftop. She was above the ground for a few precious seconds, looking utterly shocked, but eventually she brought her legs down and skid stylishly across the roof. The moment she pulled herself together, anger flashed across her face. She was back on her feet instantly, charging at Sonic like a bull as her hammer suddenly appeared in her hand.

"Knuckles, block her!" Sonic ordered, and said echidna jumped in front of Sonic and held his palms out. The front of Amy's hammer made hard contact with Knuckles' hands, but regardless he grabbed the top of the hammer and started to spin her around.

"Let me go, knucklehead! I need to get to Sonic!" Amy cried. "I refuse to let you stand in the way of our love!"

"Oh, can it," grunted Knuckles, releasing the hammer and sending Amy flying once again.

Meanwhile, Sonic was trying to make a quick escape, but he had _another_ problem on his hands.

"Mister Sonic?" Cream's soft voice asked, tugging on the hedgehog's glove. Sonic winced as he looked down and acknowledged her.

"Yes, Cream?" he replied, trying hard not to yell at her. It certainly wasn't her fault Amy was hard-pressed to hunt down Sonic.

"Do you have Cheese's brother and Froggy with you? My team and I are looking desperately for them, and a photo we have says that _you_ have them- see?"

Cream held up the photo, which Sonic took from her and looked over curiously. Sure enough, it looked like _he_ was the one running away with Chocola and Froggy.

However, Sonic certainly didn't have them.

"I swear, I don't know Froggy or Cheese's brother. You've got me mixed up with someone else!" Sonic exclaimed, handing back the picture and starting to back away. "Listen, it's probably best that we both get out of here before someone gets really hurt, all right?"

Cream nodded, despite being suddenly filled with overwhelming disappointment- she had been right all along; Sonic_ didn't_ have Chocola or Froggy.

"Yes, you're probably right Sonic…but what are you going to do about the others?"

Sonic winked. "Just leave it to me."

Meanwhile, Amy was directing her anger at missing Sonic on Knuckles by mercilessly swinging her hammer in his direction. Knuckles did his best to duck, dodge, and prevent himself from giving her a decent punch, even if she deserved it at this point.

"Amy, look, we're on a time limit here, and if you don't let us go then we're all going to be in trouble!"

"You're just saying that!" Amy yelled, bring her hammer down on Knuckles' foot. Knuckles howled in pain and grabbed his throbbing foot, but this wasn't helped when he was suddenly knocked over by a huge yellow umbrella.

"No one hurts my friends!" Big declared, standing stoically over Knuckles.

"What the heck are you talking about?" hissed Knuckles. "Your friend is hurting _me_!"

"YAAAAH!" Tails suddenly cried out, throwing himself onto Big's back. Big appeared completely unaffected as Tails attempted several wrestling moves on him, but to no avail. Knuckles finally managed to stand back up and help Tails out.

"This ends now!" Knuckles yelled, joining the madness. He punched Big in the gut twice, but this was responded with being bonked on the head a single time. Snarling, Knuckles jumped back up and threw himself on Big as well.

So now there was a fox and an echidna tugging and punching on a large purple cat, said purple cat was running around trying to get said fox and echidna off, a rabbit was watching all the craziness rise to dangerous proprtions, and then there was the whole hedgehog "romance" going on away from all that.

"Why won't you _listen?"_ Sonic groaned, edging away from Amy and getting rather close to the edge of the roof. Amy kept advancing on him, hammer outstretched like a menacing blade.

"I've followed you up to this very spot, and I've already been through quite a lot, and you are not getting away from me this time!"

"…yeah, I wouldn't have admitted that, because that's a little creepy."

"GAH, what do you know?" Amy huffed. "Just promise to marry me, and this can all be over."

"Look, you're my friend; I appreciate you, and like you to an extent. But I don't like you _like that_, and I've got way more important things to do than _marry_ you!"

"I'm really sorry, but playtime is over!" Cream intervened, approaching Sonic and Amy while still looking worried.

"That's what_ I've_ been trying to say."

"Cream, don't agree with him! Help me hold him down until he promises to marry me!" Amy cried again.

"But Amy, we were only searching for Sonic because we thought he had Chocola and Froggy," protested Cream. "But he _doesn't_, so don't you think we should just stop before we get too carried away?"

"You and Big were looking for Chocola and Froggy," Amy pointed out. She turned to Sonic and smiled, which definitely unsettled Sonic. "I've been looking for _him_!"

"You're always looking for me," Sonic huffed.

"Amy…" Cream trailed, on the brink of tears.

Amy was apparently oblivious to this, because she called Big over and told him to open his umbrella. Big complied instantly, and the action of his umbrella opening was enough to shake Tails and Knuckles off his back. The two had scrambled away, and all of Team Sonic was forced to watch as Amy and Cream balanced on the top of Big's umbrella, a shower of flower petals raining down on them.

"…and I was expecting something threatening…" Tails mumbled. "Talk about an overestimation!"

"I do have to agree- what exactly did that do?" Cream asked.

"I'm not entirely sure, but it was pretty!" Big exclaimed.

Knuckles groaned and rested his face in his palms.

Once that display was over, and flower petals were scattered everywhere, Sonic decided that enough was enough.

"Tails, Knuckles, we are getting out of here!" Sonic exclaimed, backing up rather slowly. Amy noticed was he was about to do and shrieked.

"Sonic, what are you doing? !"

"Like I said Amy, there are some things I'd rather do than get married," Sonic said simply. "I'm just sorry you didn't listen to me."

And Sonic jumped off the edge.

"_WHAT?_ !" Amy's voice boomed as Tails and Knuckles rushed after Sonic. Cream and Big were left gaping as Amy threw herself into a rage.

"Sorry, but we're in a bit of a rush here," Knuckles stated, leaping off the edge after Sonic without another word.

"We tried to say we were in a hurry," Tails added.

On the way down, they both caught Sonic, and after working themselves into flight formation, took off to the next destination.

"FINE! Runaway then, like a…a...bunch of cowards! Yeah! That just means WE win then! Hmph!"

Amy tried to sound fierce, but instead she was left gazing over the edge of the roof, feeling completely heartbroken. Not only did Sonic prefer to jump off a _building_ than be her boyfriend, but she also blew her chances at making him change his mind.

"Grrr…I tried to be nice about it, but Sonic wanted to be mean and Knuckles just had to butt his ugly mug into mine and Sonic's business…" she growled, but then sighed softly. "But I guess there's no one I can blame but myself..."

"Froggy? Where's Froggy?" Big suddenly realized, looking around for him. Cream sighed and gave Big a small hug.

"He's not here, Mister Big, and neither is Chocola…" she lightly sniffed. "Mister Sonic didn't have them…"

"But…then that means…they're still out there somewhere! What could've happened?"

"Please don't think that way, I bet they're fine!" Cream assured. "We'll find them…I hope…"

She glanced at Amy, who was obviously upset for different reasons, but the entirety of Team Rose wasn't in the brightest of moods.

"Are we still going to go after Sonic, Amy?" Cream asked, slightly hesitant. "At least you're closer to reaching your goal than we are…"

"Oh, Cream…" Amy gushed, wrapping the rabbit in a hug. "We all have the same goal, really…and I'm not any more close to mine than you are, so don't worry."

"Really?"

"Yeah," Amy then forced a smile. "C'mon, let's head to the next city over and rethink about what we're going to do. The faster we do so, the faster we'll find Chocola and Froggy, and Sonic and I will be on our honeymoon!"

"I wish we could apologize to Team Sonic though…"

"Why? ! They were totally rude to us, yelling and attacking Big and lying that they were in a rush!"

"But we're the ones that confronted them in the first-"

"No more words!" Amy declared. "We can't just stand and mope forever! Chocola, Froggy, and Sonic need our help! …well, maybe not so much Sonic. He just needs a good talking to."

Big was thrilled to get back on track again, while Cream decided there really wasn't anything else they could do. Amy, meanwhile, marched forward with a determined look on her face…

…but felt more disappointed than she appeared.

. . .

Meanwhile, on the other side of the roof, Team Dark was still recovering from their near death experience when they spotted the Chaotix, who were standing on the edge searching for their next destination.

And Rouge didn't like it one bit.

"Man, who are those creeps over there?" she huffed, gazing into the distance.

Espio had faintly heard her statement, stopping the other two members of his team instantly.

"What's up, Espio?" Vector asked, curious about Espio's sudden change in behavior.

"And you are…?" Espio replied to Rouge, whirled around and glaring. Vector and Charmy followed his gaze, spotting Team Dark as well.

"Just whaddya think you're doing here?" Rouge snapped again, hands clenched.

Vector practically guffawed. "Who's this broad?"

"Our client's adversaries, perhaps?" Espio suggested thoughtfully.

"You mean the BAD GUYS? !" cried Charmy.

"You guys don't fool me!" Rouge shouted, prompting Shadow and Omega to shake their heads. "I know what you're after! Better stay out of my way!"

"Right!" added Shadow and Omega, who both rushed in to attack. The Chaotix yelped and ran off in different directions, Shadow and Omega breaking to a stop.

"Step back and let us get the doctor first," Shadow stated, glancing seriously at the Chaotix.

"But we're not after the-" Espio tried to explain, but was quickly taken down by Rouge.

"Don't try lying- I'll get Eggman's treasure first!"

"Eggman is mine- get out of our way!" Omega exclaimed.

"There must be some sort of misunderstanding!" Espio tried to explain again, but once more was the back of his head aquatinted with Rouge's boot.

"Whatever the reason is, if they want a fight, I'll give 'em one!" Vector declared, rushing at Shadow.

Espio groaned in pain until he caught sight of the satisfied look on Rouge's face. Snarling, he unleashed a few shuriken, getting themselves pinned on the edges of Rouge's outfit and trapping her to the wall.

"What the- Hey, help me!" Rouge cried, but Shadow and Omega were already occupied.

Shadow jumped at Vector several times, Vector miraculously avoiding his quick movements. Despite this, Shadow didn't hold back, his fists and feet flying in every direction. Vector spun and ducked when appropriate, attempting a counterattack with a punch. Shadow easily evaded the strike and retaliated with one of his own-_ this_ made direct contact. Tired of being on the defensive, Vector told Charmy to get behind him as he sucked in a ton of air.

"Hmph, what do you think that'll possibly do?" Shadow scoffed, raising a hand to strike the crocodile.

"RAAAAAGH!"

Charmy and Vector spun around, flames spewing out of Vector's mouth. Shadow back flipped away as Omega stood his ground and took it.

"My sensors hardly detect a thing."

"Now I'm really mad!" shrieked Charmy, flying over to Shadow and stinging him on the arm. Shadow yelped and swatted the bee away, now enraged. He ran toward Vector, aimed to deliver a devastating punch, but Espio came out of nowhere and pushed Shadow out of the air.

"Hm, beginner's luck, but perhaps you'll pose as a challenge," Shadow deduced, standing back up after quickly recovering. Espio held up a few more ninja stars and ran at Shadow.

"Only one way to find out."

He tossed his weapons, which Shadow evaded easily. The hedgehog then delivered a frightfully painful punch to the chameleon's stomach, but Espio responded with a kick to Shadow's leg. Both of them jumped away, then went at it again with a flash of fists and feet. Espio ducked under a roundhouse kick from Shadow, only to find that his ninja fist punch was blocked as well. Shadow then bounded away, jumped up, and performed a spin attack, but Espio rolled out of the way and turned invisible.

"Where'd you go…?"

"Why don't you look behind you?"

Shadow made a foolhardy mistake and looked behind him, only to be struck by an invisible force. He went tumbling backward, skidding across the roof in a rather unpleasant fashion. Espio returned to sight once again, just in time for Shadow to glare at him.

"Wrong move…"

Espio simply struck another battle stance and raised an eyebrow. "I can take anything you throw at me."

Shadow raised an eyebrow as he stood back up, challenging Espio in his own amused and twisted way.

"_Really?"_ He asked, almost as if he meant it. Shadow slipped the Chaos Emerald from behind his back and smirked. "Try this one on for size."

Espio grimaced and slowly started to back away, knowing that whatever was coming up couldn't be pleasant. He noticed out of the corner of his eye Charmy sitting on Omega's shoulders and trying to pull his head off, Omega freeing Rouge from the wall, and Rouge trying to desperately kick at Vector. Espio started to run over to help, but he suddenly found himself on the ground with a foot on his back.

"I don't think so," Shadow deadpanned, tossing the emerald into the air. "Chaos…"

He caught the emerald in his outstretched hand, his smirk growing into a flat out sneer.

"Control!"

Espio watched with wide eyes as time around them began to slow to a halt- to everyone except for Team Dark. Now that she was free from the wall, Rouge grabbed Omega and flew him up, allowing him to rain his inferno onto Team Chaotix. Shadow stepped off of Espio as time slowly began to speed up again, with Espio rolling over and letting out a cough.

"What did you do?" Espio hacked, noticing scorch marks now running up and down his body.

"Something you could never comprehend," Shadow stated, causing him to glance at the ground. "I hardly understand it myself…"

During this one moment where he was lost in thought, Shadow sensed someone running up behind him, but his reflexes didn't act quick enough to respond. Vector struck the hedgehog with all of his might, sending Shadow flying right across their side of the roof. Rouge managed to catch him in midair, but the strike itself seemed to do quite a number.

"Espio, are you okay?" Vector asked, running up to his teammate. As Vector was helping Espio up, Charmy turned around and noticed Omega taking aim at the both of them. He shrieked and tried to warn them, but neither of them heard the bee's cries.

"Well…it looks like it's my turn to be the hero!"

"Target: located and locked," Omega announced to himself, launching the laser projectile. Shadow and Rouge simply looked on from where they were in midair- the missile was dead set on Vector and Espio.

Of course, Omega didn't calculate in the possible interference of a hyperactive bumble bee.

"Wheeeee!" Charmy shouted, doing a midair cartwheel in front of Vector and Espio. Vector only needed a single glance over his shoulder to see that Charmy had taken the blow for them.

"Charmy? !" Vector guffawed in disbelief, watching in horror as Charmy was shot over their heads and landed in a heap on the ground. Vector hurdled over Espio as the chameleon rested on his knees, still trying to recover from the Chaos Inferno.

"I missed…" Omega trailed, lowering his guns. "…but the target was still acquired."

"And I thought I was somewhat ruthless," Espio muttered to himself, whisking out three ninja stars. With a shout and a quick spin, he threw the weapons at Rouge and Shadow, effectively knocking them out of the air as he rushed over to Charmy as well.

"Charmy? Charmy! Speak to me!" Vector wailed, holding Charmy delicately in his arms. "I'm so sorry that Espio thought you were totally useless…if you just say _something_, I'll make him pay for it!"

"Excuse me?" Espio interrupted as he arrived on the scene. Vector just ignored him and focused on the child in his arms. After a few unbearable seconds, Charmy's eyes fluttered open.

And a few shocking seconds later, he was buzzing around like normal.

"Oh man, that was totally cool! Can I do it again, Vector? Huh? Huh? Huh? I just saved your and Espio's lives! How cool am _I?_ !"

Vector was utterly dumbstruck for a few moments until being whacked over the head by something, being none other than Rouge's foot. She clenched her fists as she stared Vector down, who was furiously rubbing the back of his head.

"Um…ow?"

"It's best to keep your guard up when we're around," Rouge grunted, folding her arms and smirking.

"Hmph, before picking a fight, better know who you're up against," Vector retorted. "We could easily get you arrested for assaulting detectives without a legitimate reason!"

"Yeah, you're nothing but bad guys, beating people up!" yelled Charmy. "I bet you kick puppies too!"

"Charmy, please…"

"You think _we're_ the bad guys?" Rouge questioned, staring hard at them both. "Just stay out of our way and then you'll see- sooner or later, you'll be thanking us for what we're doing."

"Being a bunch of thugs?" Vector scoffed. "Yeah right!"

"Suspicious group must be annihilated!" Omega declared, taking aim once again. Charmy stood valiantly in front of Vector, but Vector hastily pushed him away.

"Enough of this!" Espio shouted, getting ready to throw another shuriken and maybe a punch or two. However, his hand was stopped in midair by Shadow's, who was also looking like he was ready just to end this.

"Just give it up now, before we really hurt you," Shadow warned, tossing Espio to the ground like he was nothing more than a pillow. Espio burned with the desire to get back up and take Shadow down, but his better judgment told him that Vector and Charmy probably couldn't handle much more pushing around, so he stayed where he was.

"You won't get off so easily next time," Espio warned with the same tone of seriousness that Shadow had used. Shadow was taken a bit aback at this, eventually shrugging it off, but not before giving Espio one last look.

"You should thank me for letting you live," Shadow said over his shoulder, coolly walking away with his team in tow. Espio rolled over and watched them as Rouge flew them down to the streets below, off to their next place of interest.

"Suspicious group: destroyed!" Omega declared, as if all their problems were suddenly over.

But for everyone, it was far from it…

* * *

><p><strong>I probably could've done better with the first battle...but it's really hard depicitng a serious fighting scene between Rose and Sonic. ^^;<strong>


	8. Casino Park

**We've got a bit of an interesting chapter this time, that's for sure!**

* * *

><p>Because We're Sonic Heroes<p>

Chapter 7: Casino Park

"Aaw…" sighed the distraught Amy Rose, plodding into Casino Park with her head hung low. Team Rose was feeling a bit better after their recent encounter, but Amy and Cream were still lost in a daze at the entirety of the situation.

"I can't believe he did that just so he could get away!" cried Cream, still in utter shock at Sonic's dramatic exit back at the Power Plant. "Mr. Sonic must really…"

Amy snapped her head up and stared directly at Cream. "Really…what?"

"Ah…nothing…haha…" Cream decided it was probably best not to mention it after all. Amy, however, didn't notice Cream's hesitance and instead perked up.

"Now I know what to do! Find Eggman, and I'll find MY Sonic! You all ready?"

"I'm ready!" Big exclaimed, clapping his hands excitedly. Cream, however, nervously scratched her head.

"But how are we supposed to find Dr. Eggman? You ran away when we were in the middle of fighting him and-"

"Well, Sonic went this way, and the only reason he'd be going this way is if Eggman went this way," Amy explained intelligently.

Big just shrugged and carried on. "Makes sense to me!"

"Too bad this seems more like a place where Sonic would rather have fun…" Cream whispered under her breath, but followed her leader nonetheless.

. . .

"Boy, Amy sure doesn't give up easily…" Sonic groaned as he and his team was still on the lookout for Team Rose, Eggman, and somewhat more specifically Amy.

"What is this place…sure is bright here!" Knuckles wondered, admiring the glowing scene that he wasn't used to. Sonic plastered on a snarky grin, as he had been admiring the park during Knuckles' complaints.

"We've got some time…feelin' lucky?" he joked.

"Sonic, we've only got forty-eight hours left!" Tails reminded him, not seeing that Sonic was only kidding. Nevertheless, the hedgehog shrugged and dashed into the bustling place.

"OK then, let's go!"

"I've got a really bad feeling that we're going to get sucked into something outrageous…" groaned Knuckles.

"That happens on a regular basis for us," Tails replied casually.

. . .

"Lemme go, lemme go! I wanna play!" Charmy howled. His wings were in the tight grip of the green crocodile. Despite the fact they had been brutally trashed thanks to a misunderstanding, the Chaotix seemed as able as ever to get raring on their next mission. Charmy was even more pumped than usual, if that was even possible. "C'mon, Vector, lemmo go!"

Vector, however, ignored his shouts.

"Fancy place…" was all he muttered, eyes getting lost in all the lights.

"Where there's light, there's shadow. Careful," murmured Espio intelligently. Vector finally let go of Charmy who instantly rocketed off while their client contacted them again.

"Hey…this is Casino Park, isn't it?" Vector asked as Espio answered the communicator. "Maybe we can make a quick buck here!"

"Or lose all our meager savings with the way you play," Espio grunted, returning back to the client. "Anyway, you were saying?"

"Disguise yourself, and infiltrate into the city. Your goal is to collect two hundred rings!"

"Two hundred rings? !" yelped Vector. "That's more than we make in a month, and you expect us to gamble and pray we get that much? !"

"That's more than we make in five months, actually," Espio interrupted bluntly. "That's why we've been barely passing by for that exact amount of time? It's why we're here now?"

"And yet, it's less than you'll get for finishing my missions," added the client. "This is a test of luck, so just round up a double hundred rings and you'll be that much closer to a handsome fortune."

"Well in that case, we'll be on it!" Vector replied, shutting off the communication device. "Now what're we waiting for? "Let's go play us some pinball!"

Espio smacked his forehead as Charmy excitedly threw his hands in the air and cheered.

. . .

Team Dark was also patrolling through Casino Park, with Shadow and Omega looking awfully triumphant after their latest victory. Rouge, meanwhile, was having second thoughts about the Chaotix. Perhaps they really weren't after Eggman or his treasure? They did seem confused after she verbally attacked them like that…

"I wonder…Nevermind, those guys were definitely up to no good," Rouge decided, not bothering to piece it out any more than necessary.

"Enemies detected Two hundred meters ahead. Initiating battle mode!" Omega bellowed, cuing him and Shadow to run into the Casino paradise. Rouge gasped and instantly hurried to catch up, reaching a hand out as if to grab them.

"Hey guys! Wait for me!"

Omega had already taken care of the enemies, leaving Shadow to marvel at their current place of operations.

"Cool city," he stated, nodding in approval.

"Our top priority is Eggman. Don't forget that. No time to waste."

Shadow folded his arms and made a face. "What? I'm not allowed to enjoy a view every once in a while?"

"You're too serious, Omega," Rouge sighed, flying next to Shadow. "It's rare that Shadow sees something he likes anyway!"

"Hmph."

"Besides, what's the harm in a quick look around, huh? Casino cities are great places to pick up some loot!"

"We are hunting Eggman, not treasure!"

"Well I'm after Eggman's treasure, aren't I?" Rouge retorted, tossing a ring she found on the ground. "You're after Eggman. Shadow's after Eggman. I'm after what Eggman's hording, got it?"

"You better not inhibit us from reaching our goals, then," Omega countered as well, marching off and taking aim at another group of robots. Rouge frowned as she watched Shadow join the fight, being the only one left on the side lines.

"No wonder I'm never happy- I'm hanging about with serious robot and a downer hedgehog," she muttered, tossing the ring over her shoulder.

. . .

Team Rose truly was at a loss. Their only clue proved to lead them on a wild goose chase, there was no sign of Sonic, who probably wouldn't be very willing to help them, or Eggman for that matter.

"Well…" Amy trailed, as if she was reading Cream and Big's thoughts. "Maybe if we just play around here for a bit, we'll come across something."

"Huh?" Cream and Big asked simultaneously.

"After that…encounter, I think we all just need to relax a little. That way we can be refreshed and focus for the hunt of Froggy and Chocola!"

"Sounds good to me!" Big exclaimed, to which Cream had to questioned.

"Mr. Big, you've been agreeing with Amy quite a lot lately…"

"That's because she's been having good ideas lately," Big responded with a laugh. Amy smiled as well and started running off into the park.

"Lighten up, Cream! It's Casino Park! One of the most fun places ever!"

Cream didn't get a chance to respond because both Amy and Big were way ahead of her. Cream eventually sighed and smiled, with Cheese urging her to go on.

"I'd like to have fun, Cheese, but I'm still concerned for your brother and Mister Big's friend too!"

Cheese then started tugging on her glove, causing Cream to laugh.

"Okay, I suppose having a little fun wouldn't hurt anybody…"

. . .

"This entire city is like a giant casino," Tails explained as if it wasn't obvious.

"Maybe that's why it's called Casino Park!" Knuckles gasped. Sonic gave them both a look and smacked his forehead.

"I hope you two are being sarcastic…"

They both shrugged, remaining silent until Knuckles pointed out that the buildings and roads were like giant pinball tables. Sonic smiled once again as he jumped onto the nearest one, curling up into ball form and flinging himself around.

"Heh, pretty cool. Sorta reminds me of Casinopolis. Remember that place, Tails?"

Tails let out a laugh as he joined Sonic on the pinball table. "How could I forget?"

"Casinopolis?" Knuckles echoed, sensing that the name was familiar to him. Sonic nodded as he rolled by, hitting a bumper and ricocheting back again.

"Yeah, Tails and I had to go in there to secure a Chaos Emerald back during the whole Chaos thing," Sonic explained.

"I've been there too- same time frame too," Knuckles replied.

Tails looked flabbergasted as he slammed into a bumper by accident. He shrugged it off like it was nothing and simply gaped at Knuckles. "_Really_? !"

"Yup. I had to go in there to save some Master Emerald pieces after it shattered, you know. One was in a lion head, one was in a fountain, and one somehow got wedged underneath a giant golden statue of Sonic, but I managed to get it pretty easily."

Tails' eyes seemed to grow twice their size. Sonic managed to stop rolling around the pinball table to pin Knuckles to the ground.

"How _exactly_ did you manage to retrieve that piece lodged under my statue?"

Knuckles knew he made a _huge_ mistake in bringing it up, but answered nevertheless, "I smashed it and retrieved the piece from the rubble-"

"_You're_ the one that broke my statue? !"

"Oh Chaos, I'm taking that as my cue to scram," Tails yelped, flying away on the spot. He did not want to be around to witness whatever Sonic was about to do to Knuckles…or vice versa.

. . .

"Check out my awesome disguise- no one will ever tell that it's me!" Charmy laughed to himself, donning nothing more than a paper bag with eyeholes on his head. .

"Oh yes, no one will ever know it's you, Charmy," sighed Espio. He was wearing what was probably an unnecessary suit with a stylish bowtie. "At least Vector is with me on wearing an _appropriate_ disguise-"

"I'm glad you see it my way," Vector chucked, twirling his finger in an obviously fake mustache. Espio started at him for a long time before marching off.

"…anyway, we'd better find a pinball table."

"That shouldn't be too hard- this park is almost nothing _but_ pinball!"

The three of them headed over to the nearest cannon, jumping into it without any hesitation. Seconds later, they were blasted into the air, soaring over the neon city and off to fulfill their client's request.

. . .

After blasting through a window, Team Dark found themselves in their strangest predicament yet-

They were being used as pinballs.

"Well, my opinion of this place has changed," Shadow deadpanned.

"We haven't even reached Bingo Highway yet," Rouge chuckled, rolling around Shadow.

"Bingo Highway?"

"Yeah, on the other side of Casino Park and runs all the way to the surrounding area. The park is known for its pinball-like roads and buildings, while Bingo Highway is a highway based on Bingo, for obvious reasons."

"Sounds even worse than what we're stuck with now…"

As Shadow continued to gripe, he accidentally rolled into a hole and found himself falling quite the distance down to another pinball table down below. Rouge burst into laughter as Omega grumbled something about "getting sidetracked". The hedgehog landed with a thud onto the next pinball table, wondering just how far he had fallen. As soon as Rouge and Omega caught up, they made their way up toward the exit, where they were finally away from any sort of pinball table.

"Thank goodness," muttered Shadow, uncurling out of ball form and strolling away.

"It wasn't that bad," Rouge said with a shrug. "We should be grateful that it wasn't that detailed of an experience."

"What?"

"Uh…nothing. Disregard that."

"Whatever…" Shadow continued, glancing forward at an elevating red die. "We need to find a way to keep going- hopefully while avoiding unnecessary fun-themed roads."

Rouge sighed and started flying over to Shadow. "Well then, Mr. Unsmiley, I guess we're going up…"

Shadow gave Rouge a questioning look, but said nothing as they went into flight-formation and headed up.

. . .

"Giant pinball tables!" Amy cheered, instantly jumping onto one. Big laughed and joined her as well, though Cream had no idea what was going on.

"How does this work, exactly?" Cream asked, a bit apprehensive to just jump into the crazy machine. "Where's the pinball?"

"Oh Cream," Amy giggled, rolling all over the place. "You ARE the pinball!"

"Wh-What? !"

Amy returned back to the entrance and grabbed Cream, pulling the rabbit into the pinball table as well. Cream let out a yelp as she rolled into ball form, frightened at first. However, as she saw Amy and Big enjoying themselves and racking up quite a high score, Cream found that it wasn't so bad and found herself laughing too.

The trio worked their way around the first pinball table, being nothing more than a simple layout with a few walls and bumpers. Big took out all the walls while Amy ricocheted from bumper to bumper, rolling around in a pink blur. Cream tried to bounce around like Amy did, but ended up getting stuck in a chute and rolling down to the next table.

"Is this supposed to happen?" Cream questioned, feeling very dizzy all of a sudden.

"We're right behind you!" Big announced, he and Amy also taking a ride down the chute. "Woo hoo!"

They swirled down the chute until they landed on another pinball table, this one being plenty bigger and more complicated than the first. Amy cheered as she rolled right into a roulette, hoping to get a trio of Sonic faces to match up.

"Welcome to Level Two!" she announced as she impatiently awaited the results. Amy ended up simply getting rings, to her disappointment. Cream then tumbled by her, scooping up the rings as she careened around the table.

"I'm getting the hang of it!" she giggled, propelling herself up another chute. Cream rolled through that one and ended up back at the top of the table, ready to go for another spin. As Amy tried once again to get a Sonic face, Big was launching himself upwards with the flippers, going for another high score.

"Froggy would love it here!" he exclaimed to no one in particular, rolling around on his own accord. "It's like this city never sleeps!"

"Argh, Tails? !" Amy complained, receiving a Tails face and getting slightly more rings than before. "This machine's broken- we need a new one."

"It looks like the only way out is up there," Cream pointed out, gesturing to an opening towards the top.

"I guess we have to ping ourselves up there then," decided Amy, allowing herself to roll down to the flippers and ping herself upwards. She dodged the barriers and other obstacles as she targeted the exit. Surprisingly, she made it without any problems, and Cream and Big were right behind her shortly.

. . .

Later on with Team Sonic, Tails had a mortified expression plastered to his face, Sonic looked uncharacteristically unhappy, though he tried to hide it by enjoying the park anyway, and Knuckles now sported a black eye. The silence between the trio was very unsettling, so Tails tried to lighten the mood with some small talk.

"So, um, nice night, huh-"

"I cannot believe you're the one that broke it," Sonic hissed under his breath.

"Why are you so upset about it?" Knuckles shot back, flinching in case Sonic thought about striking again. "What, is your ego still feeling a little butthurt _months_ later?"

"It's not about my ego! The whole town wanted to thank me for just fighting for what I believe in with a huge golden statue of me. Pure gold, and captured me perfectly! It was one of the nicest things anyone could have done for me, and when I walked in there that _dreaded_ night, do you know how _crushing_ it was to find that it had been reduced to rubble that you oh so hardly gave a second thought for?"

"Look, how else was I supposed to get that piece of the Master Emerald? Dig a hole underground and retrieve the piece that way?"

Sonic folded his arms and glared at Knuckles, frustration almost as red as the carpet they were walking on. "Gee, I don't know, maybe pick the statue up, grab the piece, and carefully put it back down again? If you're strong enough to break the thing, then it should have been a cakewalk to pick it up? But why am I bothering talking to a wreckless echidna?"

"Who are_ you_ calling _wreckless_? !" Knuckles snapped back, hands balling up into fists.

"You don't like having your big shiny rock shattered, you should know how it feels to have something important to me shattered! Maybe I should go break that emerald of yours and make you suffer like I did!"

"Sonic, you didn't exactly suffer-" Tails tried to explain, but he was cut off from the conversation.

"Heh, good luck with that. Only I can break the Master Emerald, being its guardian and all."

"Chaos didn't seem to have a problem. Besides, I'm pretty sure shoving it off a cliff would do _wonders_ as well."

"You wouldn't even think about it Think about the chaos that would ensue! Think about why I guard the Master Emerald in the first place!"

"Did you think about what I would think after seeing my statue in shambles? No!"

"Guys, aren't we taking this a little_ too_ far?" Tails asked meekly.

"Listen," Knuckles grunted. "Right now, I'm only sticking with you because we both know we're not going to be able to stop Eggman separately. Say what you will, but you know it's true. Until then, I don't have to talk to you, or look at you, or even acknowledge you, got it?"

"_Ouch_," Sonic muttered, glaring at Knuckles. "So it's come to this, has it? Fine, who am I to make the Knucklehead unhappy. You don't have anything to say to me? Fine. Let's just carry on and get outta here before our three days are up and we're all bowing to Eggman."

With a single silent agreement, Sonic and Knuckles marched off, neither one even looking at the other.

"…so, the night_ isn't_ nice then?" Tails squeaked after them.

. . .

When the Chaotix finally touched back down onto some sort of ground, they were greeted by what was probably the largest and most complicated pinball road in the entire park. Charmy was instantly bedazzled by the spontaneous sounds and flashing lights.

"Ooooh! I can't believe I've never been here before!" he exclaimed, buzzing from one pinball attraction to the next. "This is my kind of place!"

"Casino Park may look like fun on the outside…" Espio began, his voice suddenly sounding ominous. "…but the longer you stay, the more you want to play the slots, and the more you play, the more you want to win, and eventually, you become so obsessed…and then, YOU NEVER WANT TO LEAVE!"

"Which is why children usually aren't allowed in because they have their whole lives ahead of them, unlike adults with a dead end job!" added Vector, who was already trying his hand at the slots placed smack dab in the middle of the table.

"Yeah, that's doesn't sound familiar…"

"You say something, Espio?"

"No, not at all."

. . .

"Here they come," Shadow stated coolly, running straight into a horde of robots. Rouge and Omega joined in the fray, kicking and firing at anything mechanical that came their way.

"Where does he get all these parts? And the time to build them?" Rouge wondered as she crushed one effortlessly.

"The doctor has been inactive for months, correct?" Omega pondered. "Perhaps that time was used to build reinforcements…and myself, of course."

"But he said he was turning over a new leaf," Rouge recalled with a frown.

"He probably turned it back over then," muttered Shadow, taking out an Egg Pawn with nothing more than his fist.

"…well, regardless…I wonder what he came here for. Unlike Seaside Hill and Grand Metropolis, there's really nothing for him to gain."

"Maybe he needed a quick recharge after the beating we gave him," Shadow huffed sarcastically, finishing off the last robot and forging on.

"Yeah, speaking of that…was I the only one that thought that was a bit too easy to destroy the Egg Hawk?"

"No," replied Omega. "We annihilated it with Chaos Control and a large pink laser. I think it's pretty justified."

"That's not what I…oh, whatever."

Rouge gave up on trying to get anywhere with her teammates, trotting behind them with a sigh. They didn't cover much more ground before another robot struck, this one looking much different than anything encountered previously. Shadow and Rouge were about to wreck it, but Omega of all people stopped them.

"Careful. It's a Klagen-If you get too close, it'll take you away and you won't come back unless the robot is destroyed."

"Oh…" Rouge uttered, taking a few steps back. Shadow just shook his head and charged forward anyway.

"It can't be any more threatening than what we've battled already- what're you so afraid for?"

Shadow pulled his arm back to prepare himself for a punch, but as he thrust forward, the robot reached as well, grabbing and stopping Shadow's arm with no problem.

"Shadow!" Rouge yelled as Omega instantly began rapid fire. Rouge then tackled Omega and told him to stop.

"Why? !"

"You're going to hit Shadow!"

"…that's a risk I'll have to take!"

"No!"

As Omega continued to fire at the robot (and Shadow), Shadow struggled to break free, only to result in his other arm being snagged by the robot.

"Release me at once!" Shadow ordered, eyes almost glowing with anger. The Klagen ignored his demands and did the opposite- he started to fly away with him.

"What the-"

"Okay, Omega, start shooting now!" Rouge cried, flying after Shadow and the robot.

"Annihilate all Eggman robots!" Omega shouted, guns blazing. "This one's a stupid consumer model!"

. . .

"Ooh! Look at the neon lights!" Cream gasped as she and her team walked down the red carpeted path, oogling at bright palm trees, flashing bulbs and any other neon object that caught her interest.

"Well look at the size of those dice!" Big exclaimed, pointing ahead to a set of large, moving, multicolored dice.

"I just can't believe there's no place to shop," Amy huffed, impatiently tapping her foot. "And it's been awhile since we were playing at a pinball table. I still want to get my triple Sonics!"

"What was wrong with Tails?" Cream asked. "You won a lot of rings from that, didn't you?"

"Yeah, but I could've won more with Sonic."

Amy kept her eye out for another pinball table or slot machine of some sort as the trio found themselves rolling down another chute and spinning around a rotating table.

"My head's spinning!" Cream shrieked as they circled around several times. "Make it stop!"

"Big, do you see how we get out of here?" Amy asked, also feeling like she whirled around the table one too many times.

"Um…here?" Big replied, accidentally rolling over a hidden chute. The three of them cascaded down the chute, landing on a different one, and reaching another pinball table. Amy instantly went on the hunt for a slot machine, Big tried his hand at another high score, as Cream looked for the next way out while rounding up some more rings.

Once again, it was way at the top.

"Oh, this one doesn't have a slot machine," Amy pouted, now rolling around aimlessly.

Cream then said, "Well in that case, we'd better work on getting ourselves out of here."

Amy silently agreed, so she and Cream worked their way to the flippers to fling themselves up towards the exit. Big was still rolling around doing his own thing, but once he saw what the girls were doing, he tried to help out too. All three of them used the flippers to flings themselves upwards, and to keep the momentum going they bounced off of each other until they reached the top and started rolling down again.

"Yes! Ha ha, we did it!" Amy cheered on their way down. "I can't believe- giant slot machine!"

Once they reached the bottom, Amy squealed in delight at the giant slot machine towering over them, luring any potential players over with its presence. Amy tried to go over there, but Cream pointed out that it was probably just for show, making Amy feel suddenly crestfallen.

. . .

Back with Team Sonic, Sonic and Knuckles were still giving each other the silent treatment. However, instead of letting the fight get to him, Sonic did what he wanted to do in the first place- have fun.

"Let's see if I can get triple me!" he laughed as he entered the slots, rolling around until the three pictures stopped. He received triple Tails instead, which still left him pretty thrilled, especially with all the rings he received.

"Look at all the rings you're worth, Tails!" Sonic called, collecting them all as he rolled by. Tails just waited at the exit, watching Sonic roll around and enjoy himself.

"Yeah, pretty cool, Sonic," Tails replied halfheartedly, not completely paying attention. He was too busy trying to think of a way to get Sonic and Knuckles back on speaking terms, because it would be bad for all three of them if they couldn't cooperate.

"This really does need to stop…" Tails trailed to himself, twirling a ring between his fingers. "I don't mind an occasional debate, but going to lengths like this? It's ridiculous…"

He looked to his right to see Knuckles flinging himself up and down, impatiently waiting for Sonic to finish wasting their time. However, due to their latest argument, he could do nothing but stand victim to Sonic's carefree shenanigans.

"Hey hey, triple rings!" Sonic cheered, gathering up more rings for the team. "How come I'm the only one enjoying myself! Besides, this is only the first half of the park!"

"Not to rain on your parade or anything, but I wanna leave here before the sun comes back up," Tails explained, sliding a glance at Knuckles who appeared grateful to Tails for speaking. Not wanting to give Knuckles a feeling of satisfaction, but also not wanting to disappoint Tails, Sonic shot himself up to the exit and stood back on his feet.

"All right then, let's keep going."

"We can always come back another time," Tails pointed out, trying to make up for it.

"Nah, it's okay- after all, how many other casino zones are out there?"

"A lot," Tails replied, but he knew that Sonic didn't need an answer.

. . .

The Chaotix was apparently failing their "test of luck", because the most they had won, a measly ten rings, had already been lost, and Espio was afraid Vector was going to spiral them into the negatives at the rate they were going….

Charmy was occupied by throwing himself at every single bumper, flipper, and ramp, so he was busy for the time being. Espio was hoping they could win what they needed before Charmy got bored with what he was doing, but Vector was impeding on that possibility.

"Come on, Vector, play smarter!" Espio hissed, trying his hardest not to get too impatient.

"I'm doing just fine, thank you! …blast, triple Eggman again."

Espio narrowed his eyes. "At least let me have a shot at it."

"No! The old Vector charm is BOUND to come into play at any moment now!"

Espio continued to grimly watch as his leader continued to fail at the slots, continuing to pinball himself into it and hope for the best. Charmy was beginning to slow down on his antics, and Espio knew there was a limited amount of time before he would pester around for something else to do.

The next time Vector lost, Espio grabbed his arm and darted away.

"Perhaps we should try a different table…"

"Or we could get a game of poker going!" suggested Vector.

"Hey! What's Poker? !" Charmy asked, tilting his head.

"We'll tell you when you're older…"

. . .

No matter how many shots he fired, Omega hadn't been able to take down the Klagen that had kidnapped Shadow…though that was probably because he was hitting Shadow more often than the actual robot. Rouge was flying as fast as her wings would take her, but the robot refused to be captured.

And so did Shadow.

"You're going to regret choosing me as your victim," Shadow warned, watching as the night sky and the city passed below his feet. The robot only responded by gripping Shadow tighter, which only infuriated the hedgehog even more.

"I mean it; let me go!"

Shadow felt like he was getting higher and higher, but was only getting farther from the rest of his team. He couldn't tell what was worse, however- the fact he was away from his team, the fact he was captured, or the fact that the robot refused to listen to him.

"Stop…opposing…me…"

Rouge and Omega were hot on the trail, though still not close enough to catch him. Omega resorted to firing crazily again and Rouge started worrying for Shadow's safety.

Although there really wasn't anything to worry about.

The robot suddenly burst into a thousand pieces, seemingly glowing red as well. Rouge quickly darted over to the wreckage, wondering whether or not Shadow made it through the blast.

He did, because he was the one who had caused the blast.

"What in the world…" Shadow stammered, finding himself back on the ground and his head spinning rapidly. Rouge and Omega caught up with Shadow, Omega looking confused while Rouge wasn't sure what to say.

"Shadow…what happened?" Omega asked, glancing around at the robot cluttered.

"I wish I knew…" muttered the hedgehog. "It was making me angry and the next thing I knew…well, it blew up."

"Clearly your anger is destructive," Rouge said with crossed arms. Shadow whirled around to face her and glared.

"You think I did that? !"

"I'm fairly sure the robot didn't self-destruct, however," Omega pointed out.

"But how could I have possibly…" Shadow began, glancing at the faces of his team. After a few seconds of silence, Shadow clenched his fists and stomped off. "No. I'm not destructive…and I didn't cause that blast…"

Rouge and Omega exchanged looks before following after Shadow. They knew as little about what had caused the robot to explode as Shadow did…

But if it wasn't the robot, what else could it have been?

. . .

"Knuckles, how come you're letting this happen?"

"How come you're asking me and not your oh so amazing idol, huh?"

Tails frowned. "Because I already know what he'll say…it's just the way he says things that always seem to reassure me."

"Uh huh."

"With you, at least I can get a direct answer and know you mean it, no matter what tone you use. Sometimes Sonic is more of a self-esteem pick me up, if you know what I mean."

"Not really."

Team Sonic was still making their way through Casino Park, and their speed and power members were still making things difficult. Sonic was once again doing his own thing on another pinball table, setting a new record for high score on the current "road".

"Cool! I'm so good, maybe I should be a Sonic Spinball, _eh guys?_ …Guys?"

He was at least expecting Knuckles to shoot some sort of glare in his direction for acknowledging him, but Sonic didn't even receive _that_. Knuckles was too busy talking to Tails, and Tails was too busy trying to force answers out of Knuckles to fix their current situation. Sonic frowned and went back to rolling, pretending like he hadn't said anything at all.

"I guess they didn't see then…"

"…besides, to me, he's more of a self-esteem _killer_," Knuckles continued, folding his arms. "I didn't know the darned thing meant so much to him! He just shouldn't have been so defensive about it- I mean, what a baby!"

"This is the kind of thing that's going to prevent us from making progress," Tails complained. "Isn't this the wrong thing to strain your friendship over?"

"Yes, but try telling that to him."

"We really can't go anywhere without you two arguing, huh? And you can't blame it all on Sonic because you're half the problem!"

"It's not my fault we're polar opposites! It's like going against the grain with that guy!"

"Well, you two became friends somewhere along the way…" Tails retorted. "Opposites attract, right?"

"In some cases, opposites can repel too," Knuckles stated simply, jumping down from where they were perched. "I'm going on ahead. You can either stay and watch Sonic roll and score his troubles away, or you can come with me so we can get things done."

Tails sadly watched Knuckles head to the next path, thus causing him to slam his fist into the nearest wall angrily.

A few seconds later, he recoiled in pain and quickly shook his hand around.

"Ow, genius move, Tails…there's gotta be something I can do to get them to work together…"

He flew up, motioning to Sonic to get going again.

"…and if I can't, then there's probably nothing that can be done…"

. . .

"I'm going to win big time!" Charmy cheered, rushing over to the slot machine on a different table. Vector grabbed his rings and gave him a look- and the situation was made a bit odder with the fact that Charmy still had a paper bag on his head.

"Don't forget that you're still on the clock!"

"Aw, man!"

"At least we've managed to gather twenty rings from out trek over here," Espio interrupted, holding out the cash. "However, I refuse to allow you to splurge it all, Vector."

"Hmph," Vector folded his arms. "And how do you suppose we're going to win anything otherwise?"

"Like this," Espio said casually, tossing a ring to Charmy. Vector's eyes nearly popped out of his head- he was so dumbstruck his fake mustache fell off!

"Say what-? !"

"YAY!" cheered the paper bag-covered bee, flying around waving the ring like it was gold.

…well, it was, but that's not the point.

Charmy eagerly inserted his coin, rolled up into a ball, and entered the slot machine. Vector and Espio could hear his giddy laughs of excitement from the outside, only able to watch as the slots spun in a blur of color.

"C'mon, anything but Eggman…" Espio begged, clenching his fists.

When the first wheel stopped, it showed a picture of Knuckles.

When the second stopped, it showed a picture of Knuckles.

"Triple echidna, please," begged Espio once again. Vector was still at a loss for words.

Charmy jumped out of the machine when Knuckles' face flashed a third time, while Espio collected the sixty rings that Charmy's win spouted.

"Ha! And they said kids can't play the slots!"

"They can't," Espio interrupted. "But good job Charmy- at least someone is helping us make progress."

Vector didn't answer- he had fainted.

. . .

Shadow's mood wasn't about to get any better, considering they were back at a pinball table. Shadow was ricocheting everywhere trying to escape, but Rouge had to explain to him several times that they needed to work together to escape.

"Why? So you can accuse me of causing something to blow up?"

"Well, there WAS that building in Grand Metropolis-"

"Omega!" Rouge snapped, quickly returning her attention back to Shadow. "Look, Shadow, we didn't mean to upset you by saying you were the cause of the blast, we just didn't know how to react to it- it just happened so suddenly-"

"Do me a favor and don't mention it again," Shadow said coldly, finally reaching the top of the pinball street. "I don't know what happened, and I don't want to know…I just want to find Eggman and get some answers."

"…Well…" Rouge began, looking down at the ground. "There is something I could probably tell you-"

"Annihilation! Fire! Fire!" Omega suddenly boomed, pushing Rouge and Shadow out of the way and blasting at the approaching clunker. It looked just like the one that had taken Shadow, only much bigger.

"That can't be good," Rouge gulped as she ducked under a laser.

"Blow it up already, Omega!" Shadow blared.

"I'm trying! Weapon fire isn't nearly sufficient enough!"

"I'll handle this, then," Shadow grumbled, jumping to his feet and running over. While the robot was distracted with fellow android Omega, Shadow threw himself into the air, homed in on the robot, and demolished it in one shot.

"Does not compute," uttered Omega, staring at his hand. "How could my weapon fire not be enough?"

"Maybe because you're made out of the same metal?" Rouge suggested meekly.

"Then why is it easy for him to trash all the other robots?" Shadow wondered, returning to the red velvet ground and walking off.

"Ugh, who knows? We question things way too much…"

"I agree," said Shadow, narrowing his eyes as he did so.

. . .

"So I'm a criminal for trying to enjoy myself while we have some downtime? Really?" Sonic questioned, trudging behind Tails and Knuckles instead of sprinting ahead. "C'mon, we could all have some fun if you'd just loosen up!"

When neither Tails nor Knuckles responded, Sonic sulked even more.

"It's not like I'm totally abandoning the reason why we're here in the first place- I want to defeat Eggman just as much as you two do! I'm just stopping to smell the flowers as we go! Or in this case, stopping to play any casino game we pass by!"

"You're breaking our agreement," Knuckles said flatly, causing Tails to smack his forehead.

"Well…so are you."

"Because you already broke it, so it really doesn't matter now-"

"Great!" Tails shrieked. "Now hurry up and make up already! This has gone on- WAAAH!"

"Tails? !" Sonic and Knuckles cried at the same time, only to see that a Gold Klagen had captured Tails in its two long arms. Tails wriggled and fought to break away, but the bot's iron grip was too much for Tails.

"Oh, come on! This isn't what I had planned at all! This actually threatens me!"

"You planned something?" Knuckles questioned as Sonic grabbed his arm. "Yikes! What do you think you're doing now? !"

"You're helping me save Tails whether you like it or not!"

"This seems vaguely familiar…"

"Yeah," grunted Sonic, attempting to throw Knuckles at the robot. "This wouldn't be the first time."

Sonic's tossing attempt failed miserably as Knuckles ended up being slammed face first into the ground instead of fist first into the robot. Not only that, but the robot gripped Tails tighter and broke through glass, descending down with their flight member.

"See, and you were calling me reckless," Knuckles snapped, getting back up. This time, he grabbed Sonic's arm and ran off with him. "Next time, I'll be the one who's throwing!"

"It was a good idea! It just wasn't executed very well!"

Knuckles rolled his eyes as he let go of Sonic as they both crashed through another window, falling several stories going after Tails and the Klagen. Sonic quickly flipped himself over and landed cautiously on his feet while Knuckles landed on his stomach- and that did not feel good.

"After them!" Sonic cried, pointing a finger forward. Knuckles just moaned on the ground.

"I think I'll just lay here-"

"Now!"

Knuckles was on his feet in seconds, even though his stomach still needed time to unflatten itself.

. . .

Vector, Espio, and Charmy decided to be on the move again- Espio took a turn on the roulette and won the group twenty more rings, and combined with the rings the group gathered on the way to the next attraction, they were almost at hundred- nearly half way there!

"I hope we don't lose any!" Charmy stated, flying beside Espio.

"Well, Vector just HAD to go one on one with that Badnik-"

"Hey! It was giving me the evil eye!"

"You're just lucky Charmy and I managed to gather up what you lost," Espio added, continued to stare straight ahead. "We need to stay focused though- we're still slightly over a hundred coins short, and time is scarce."

"Aw, Espio- you're treating this like a mission! It's Casino Park- the entire city is basically just a game!"

"I'm treating this like a mission because it IS a mission. We're not here for a casual gallivant through town- we've got to prove to our client that we're capable detectives, and if luck is on the to-do list, then we'd better start gathering hearts, stars, and horseshoes-"

"And Clovers and blue moons!" added Charmy.

Before Vector could retort to either of them, The Chaotix stopped dead in their tracks.

There, towering several stories higher than them, was a huge slot machine.

"W-Wow…" whistled Vector.

"It's….beautiful…" gaped Charmy, landing on his feet because he was weighted down by the sheer brilliance.

"This slot machine seems different…" trailed Espio, looking thoughtful rather than in awe.

Vector and Charmy shot him a look. "Besides the fact that it's bigger? !"

"…yes."

. . .

Sonic and Knuckles were still chasing after the robot, having nearly no luck as it was too fast for Knuckles and too high up for Sonic to reach, even if he could catch up with it. However, on their way after Tails, they ran into a bigger, white version of the robot whom had kidnapped him, and it looked much more threatening.

"We gotta take it out before it gets one of us!" Sonic exclaimed. "Otherwise…well, we might not be able to come back. These things are deadly."

"No need to tell me twice," stated Knuckles. "Thrash 'em and trash 'em!"

Knuckles grabbed Sonic and started spinning around, Sonic being careful to time the exact moment to strike.

"Ready…"

The droid advanced upon them, getting awfully close for comfort. Knuckles noticed this and wished Sonic would give him the signal.

"GO!"

Knuckles released Sonic, Sonic curling up into a blue ball and striking the Klagen at any and all points on it. Eggman's creation hardly stood a chance against the combined might and shattered into pieces after receiving one blow too many. Sonic uncurled and landed in its scrap, with Knuckles whistling, "Nice."

"Thanks, but this isn't over yet," Sonic replied, rushing off once again. Knuckles said no more and took off after him. However, when he saw where Sonic was running to, he grimaced. "Oh, you've gotta be kidding."

"I'm as serious as a heart attack- now get in the cannon."

"Well, that's a first," Knuckles snickered, but climbed into the cannon anyway. Sonic rolled his eyes, climbing in as well.

"You'd be surprised…but on the other hand, being serious IS pretty boring-"

The conversation was cut short when the cannon launched them, a streak of red and blue tearing across the sky. They landed at a far off pinball table, but they could hear Tails' shouts not too far off.

"All right, we just need to get up this pinball table and we should be able to reach Tails," Knuckles declared. "You ready?"

"Ready anytime," Sonic assured, curling into ball form and ricocheting himself upwards. Knuckles simply nodded before doing the same, the both of them working together and using the bumpers to their advantage to get up to the top of the pinball table. Sonic worked the flippers while Knuckles used the bumpers to keep their momentum going. Eventually, they reached the top with little hassle, only to find themselves at the base of a staircase.

"Something seems to be up there, but we can't go that way…" Knuckles trailed.

"I hope Tails isn't that way, then," stated Sonic, demolishing a robot and running around the staircase. There was a chute leading downwards, and after exchanging a nod, the duo curling up and rolled down, hoping Tails would be on the other side.

. . .

"All right, I think I've figured it out," Espio announced to his still gawking teammates. "This slot machine is just like the others- the number of rings paid out varies depending on the matching symbols."

"Yeah, I think we could've guessed that…"

"But, with this particular one, we can raise the stakes."

"How so?" Vector asked suddenly, snapping out of his daze.

"A maximum of two hundred rings are paid out with one ball. That number is tripled when there are three balls in the machine."

"Awesome!" said Charmy, but Espio held up a hand to stop him.

"However, as we know, there are times when we can lose our rings, so we have to be careful not to play too much."

"Hey, when did you figure out all that?" Vector questioned, giving Espio a curious glance. Espio jerked a thumb over his shoulder.

"There was a huge neon sign behind us that explained everything. I have no idea how we missed that when we first walked by."

"So much for being 'detective', eh?" snickered Charmy, only for Vector to roll his eyes.

"Anyway," Espio continued hold out the three balls that he had been talking about. "Who would like to go first?"

. . .

"Tails!" Sonic exclaimed, coming to an abrupt stop at the bottom of the chute. Knuckles crashed into him, sending them both into a heap, but they sprung up in time to dodge an attack sent by Tails' kidnapper.

"Sonic! Knuckles! You made it here without destroying each other!" Tails cheered. "I thought I was doomed!"

"I guess you bring out the best in us, Tails," Sonic said with a chuckle, turning to Knuckles. Knuckles smirked as well.

"Yeah, since you being in a predicament forces up to put aside our differences."

They rolled out of the way of a laser, Sonic snickering once again.

"But of course, Knuckles just had to be stubborn about everything…"

"Yeah? And who was the one whining about the statue?"

"Well you're the one that started the whole "silent treatment" thing, and looked how well that worked out!"

"Oh man," Tails moaned, still in the clutches of the robot. "We were so close…it was almost over…"

The Klagen seemed pretty annoyed at the bickering as well.

"Grah, what is your problem, Sonic?" Knuckles grunted. "I almost thought we could put this past us, but you just had to add fuel to the fire, huh?"

Sonic folded his arms and turned away. "This all started when you admitted you broke my statue, and you could see how upset I was! I was an idiot to think that my best friend would feel guilty for doing something like that, but instead he decides to deride me for it."

"I was guilty," Knuckles retorted. "But I wasn't about to let you know that."

"Didn't seem that way when you were yellin' at me. You didn't even apologize for crying out loud!"

Knuckles started to say something, until they both noticed that the robot was tired of watching them go at it and squeezed Tails once again to get them to stop. Sonic growled at the sound of Tails' yelp and prepared to spring into action, but he was distracted by the fact Knuckles was charging at him head on.

He smirked.

Knuckles furiously grabbed Sonic and swung him around just like before.

"I'm sorry, okay? If I had known that it meant so much to you, I wouldn't have broken it, okay?"

He released Sonic, sending him flying at Tails and the robot. Sonic had his arms folded in midair as he smirked, shaking his head.

"Apology accepted. See, that would have been so much easier if you had done it in the first place."

"Sonic!" Tails chirped, crying out his surrogate brother's name with one last breath.

With that, Sonic kicked his leg out, flipped backward, and slammed into the robot with the front of his foot. The Klagen spilt right down the middle, with Sonic grabbing Tails and bringing them both safely back down to the ground. They watched as the robot fully exploded, with Knuckles joining them shortly after.

"Well, that was interesting," Sonic said after it suddenly got quiet. "And Knuckles...I'm sorry for giving you a black eye. I guess I overracted a little."

"No kidding," grumbled Knuckles, but he brightened up a bur. "You're forgiven, though."

"I'm just glad you guys are on decent terms again," Tails replied with a sigh.

Knuckles folded his arms and gave Tails a look. "Yeah, there's still one more thing I'd like to know…what exactly did you have "planned"?"

"Oh, I was just going to lean precariously over the side of a building until you two made up, but it turned out way better than I planned when that robot kidnapped me!"

"…you could've just flown to safety if you fell off a building," Sonic pointed out without much enthusiasm.

"That's why I wouldn't be in total danger! But, if it was the spur of the moment, you and Knuckles wouldn't have remembered that!"

"Well, it just goes to show how far you'd go for us," Sonic chuckled, rubbing Tails' head.

"There's just one last thing to be settled…"

"What's that, Tails?"

"This," Tails said, grabbing Sonic and Knuckles, surrounding them in electricity, and slamming them into each other. They both yelped and sprawled out on the ground, moaning in pain. "If you two start fighting again at all during this trip, that's gonna happen again, and I won't go easy like I just did."

"That was easy? !" gaped Knuckles.

"Urgh, whatever, I think I get the point…" Sonic groaned.

Tails just gave his classic grin and walked on.

. . .

"Now just remember," Espio began again, trying to hide the fact he was worrying for the mission's success. "One ball deals out two hundred, so if we win with just one ball, we'll have enough for our client. Now, Charmy-"

"Okay, I find two things wrong with your claim, "Vector instantly butted in, making Espio raise an eye ridge. "One, I want to play the slots-"

"Charmy said he wanted to go first before you."

"And second- why not raise the stakes a little, eh?"

"Because I don't want to lose everything we've already worked for because of your recklessness," Espio replied flatly. "Charmy, just bet one ball-"

"But if we win the maximum six hundred, our client will think we're especially lucky, and then the client's opinion of us will rise! You're the one who gave the speech about how it's all for the mission and how we're supposed to do the best we can for the guy!"

"I'm also the one who's trying to be cautious about what we do," Espio fought back. "You lost what we began with, lost what we earned, and it wasn't for Charmy and myself and what small funding we found scattered on the ground, we'd still be flat broke!"

"Espio was right- we ARE doomed!" Charmy wailed. "The park is tearing us apart!"

"What's wrong with having a little fun?"

"What's wrong with being responsible?"

"Charmy, three balls!"

"Just use one!"

"Argh, CONFLICT!"

Espio and Vector continued to bark at each other, eventually forcing Charmy to decide on his own. Choosing to meet somewhat in the middle, he took out two balls and betted them before entering the machine.

"I sure hope I win something…otherwise they'd both kill me!"

Charmy spun around like the slots did, Espio and Vector ceasing their spat for a few precious moments to watch the result. The first slot was Tails, the second was a Tails…

The third was Tails as well, by pure luck.

"Woo hoo! I just scored us four hundred rings!" Charmy laughed, flying out of the machine and buzzing around Espio and Vector. Espio was very pleased and planned to take the money and go, but Vector had other plans.

"There's no way Charmy could have won that that easily-"

"Vector don't get any ideas," Espio warned, almost in a threatening way. "We have what we need, let's just leave-"

"No, I want to know why Charmy wins and I can't," Vector huffed, marching up to the machine.

"Because you just don't have the luck of the bee, baby!" Charmy claimed, pumping a fist into the air as he said so. Espio, meanwhile, was practically snarling at the crocodile.

"Vector, get away from that machine-"

"I'm just looking at it!" Vector snapped back, inspecting it from a slight distance.

"Please, just step away from it before you accidentally-"

"WAAAH!"

Vector leaned a bit too far in his little investigating, causing the machine to mistake him for wanting to go for a round. Espio fell to his knees in anguish while Charmy silently prayed underneath his paper bag that Vector wouldn't lose everything for them- or anything, for that matter, even though they had rings to spare.

Although, the stakes were doubled, considering Vector was carrying two of the balls before he was sucked in.

"Oh, this can't end well…" Espio groaned, suddenly feeling faint. His and Charmy's eyes stayed glued on the spinning roulette. The first one stopped on a ring, giving the duo a bit of hope, but the second ended up with a face belonging to Eggman.

Espio's fist banged on the ground with frustration.

The situation especially wasn't helped by the fact a second Eggman face appeared.

. . .

"It sure is a nice place," Cream stated. She, Amy, and Big were sitting on the edge of a building and looking at the city below. "Away from the hectic games and attractions, it is a rather peaceful place!"

"It makes me kinda super duper happy!" exclaimed Big, even doing a dance to go with his proclamation. Cream laughed a little as Amy smiled.

"So, are we all feeling better again?" she asked, getting Cream and Big to nod. "Good! We're going to need all our energy if we want to find Chocola and Froggy without any help!"

"There has to be something we've overlooked though," sighed Cream, gazing at the photo again. "This clearly shows that Sonic has Froggy and Chocola…but when we saw him, he didn't have them!"

"Sonic is too nice to do anything to them either," Big added. "I still remember when he helped me get Froggy back!"

"Maybe the photo was a trick by Eggman!" Amy suddenly declared, punching a fist into her palm as Cream and Big looked at her in shock. "Yeah, I bet he planted that photo and tried to frame Sonic! That monster!"

"Good theory, but what would Doctor Eggman was with Froggy and Chocola?" wondered Cream. Amy shrugged while jogging off, waving her arm to get her team to follow.

"I don't know, but if he does have them, then whatever he has planned can't be good…"

. . .

"We lost four hundred and thirty rings, man!" Charmy sobbed, wailing away on the red carpeted ground of Casino Park. "In…one…setting!"

"How does that even happen? !" Espio complained. "I mean, how much is each picture worth, exactly?"

"Apparently Eggman is worth a negative two hundred," grumbled Vector, looking as glum as Charmy did.

"We'll never know!" Espio exasperated. "We didn't lose all our rings, but how are we supposed to get back up to two hundred now? You just HAD to figure out why you're a terrible gambler, didn't you, Vector?"

"Hey, at least I know a potential career for MY future now," Charmy managed to get out between his crying.

"Charmy, by the time you're old enough to gamble, gambling will be obsolete."

"…NOOOOOO!"

The team lounged around, either wallowing in guilt, frustration, or disappointment. Espio would have liked to yell at Vector for all he was worth, but after meditating on it, he realized that wasn't going to get their rings back. He noticed Charmy grab one ball and fly into the machine, but he only won twenty rings. Still upset, he played again, this time only receiving ten.

"Ugh, this thing has a mind of its own! It needs a consistent point value!"

Espio watched as Charmy either lost or gained little, and Vector certainly wasn't about to get anywhere near the machine. When Charmy emerged one more time, this time somehow with fifteen rings, Espio snagged his betting ball and marched toward the machine.

"Espio, what are you doing?" Charmy asked, doing a flip in the air and spreading out his arms.

Espio simply held out the three betting balls. "I'm taking the test of luck."

"But Espio, three-"

"Aw, what does it matter?" grumbled Vector. "I mean, we don't have much left to lose thanks to me-"

"But we'll lose all that we have if Espio loses! We won't be able to get the cash to the client! We won't have enough to pay off the rent! We'll become hobos that'll live in the box on the side of the street in Station Square! …AUGH! I'll have to sing and dance for food!"

As Charmy ranted, Vector witnessed Espio propel himself into the slot machine, with triple the bets. The roulettes spun, the tension was high, the lights were suddenly very blinding…

Eventually, when the roulette stopped, Espio had ended up with triple Sonics.

Vector and Charmy slowly exchanged a glance as the ground started to shake. Turning back to the slot machine, Espio went flying out, followed by what could only be perceived as a mountain of rings. The Chaotix were quickly overtaken by the horde of gold, and suddenly Charmy was swimming in it.

"Yes! We won't be living like hobos!" he shouted to the sky, completely overjoyed.

"…okay, there is no way I could have possibly won that," Espio admitted, his head popping out of the pile. Vector's emerged moments later, giving Espio a look.

"Well now you know why I was wondering the same thing," Vector huffed. "But now we have enough to pay the client and the rent for a year! Let's cut and run now."

"We can't even carry all this!" exclaimed Espio. "We should only take what we need."

"Please don't start arguing…" Charmy pleaded, clasping his hands together and widening his eyes. "I'm tired of Casino Park anyway- let's go to Bingo Highway!"

"We only go where our client tells us to go," Espio replied, whipping out the communicator and calling up said client. "Yes, we have managed to obtain the necessary rings to complete our mission, along with a few extra funds as well…"

"Excellent! Looks like you were pretty lucky after all!"

"Yeah, okay…" grumbled Vector.

"Now, head over to Bingo Highway to receive your next instructions."

Espio smacked his forehead as Charmy celebrated vigorously in the background.

. . .

So Team Dark was nearing the end of their Casino Park trek, not much closer to Eggman, and with all of them farther from their goals. They stood over the city at its highest point, watching the city lights glow and the sounds of gambling fill the air.

"It's just too bad," Rouge began, head resting in her palm. "There we so many opportunities to have some fun and we bypassed them all!"

"That's mainly because Comrade Shadow hates the pinball tables-"

"I do not!" Shadow hissed to Omega. "I just find them a bit annoying, is all."

"Yes. Okay. And since I am a robot, it is probably impossible to tell that I am being sarcastic."

Shadow smacked his forehead and turned to Rouge. "Hey, it might've been…a change of pace if we explored a bit more, but what did you expect? It's us against the world, and we were just too occupied by idiotic excuses for robots!"

"Ahem?"

"Not counting Omega, of course…"

"I know," Rouge said, scratching the back of her head. "But…well, I didn't even get to snag any rings! And I was hoping to show you the better parts of the city, but I guess that'll never happen now…"

"Well, we've still got Bingo Highway to go through, if what you've said about it is true," Shadow pointed out, slightly hiding his face. "Maybe you'll get your wish there."

Rouge raised an eyebrow.

"You said it was worse than the pinball table-"

"What do I know? I've never been there."

Rouge looked thoughtful, but then smiled. "Okay, Shadow. If you say so…"

She spun around and floated off the ground as she left, feeling a bit happier than before. Omega walked up to Shadow, who was watching her leave.

"What exactly were you trying to do there?"

"I'm not really sure…" Shadow trailed, not taking his eyes off the bat. "But she's really not as bad as she seems, is she?"

"No…she only wants to enjoy herself, if my calculations are correct. Plus it sounds like her past was complicated by what she confided into me…"

"Hmm…" Shadow muttered, now following after her. "Perhaps that is something we have in common…if I could just remember…"


	9. Bingo Highway

Because We're Sonic Heroes

Chapter 8: Bingo Highway

"See, this looks like fun!" Rouge exclaimed, dragging Team Dark into the blue-hued side of Casino Park. Rouge pulled Shadow and Omega to the edge of the entrance, which looked out over tons of swirling blue slides and Bingo games that were larger than life. Omega calculated how long it would take them to find Eggman while Shadow removed himself out of Rouge's grip and folded his arms.

"It's definitely better than the rest of Casino Park, I must admit," Shadow stated smoothly. "But don't forget Rouge, we have to focus on getting out of here."

"I know, I know," Rouge sighed, glanced down. "What's the rush?"

"Hmm…hard to say. The fact I have no memories, someone might beat us to the doctor, the lights giving me a _killer_ headache-"

"Hmph, I can give you a reason as to why you need to rush, that's for sure…"

Shadow glanced at Rouge curiously, having his interest piqued. "Really? Give me one."

"Well," Rouge nervously scratched the back of her head. "Before you were trapped in that pod, I-"

"Eggman detected in a northwestern direction!" Omega suddenly blared out, turning his teammates in said direction. Shadow stared dully ahead while Rouge's expression looked like she had just eaten something sour. "We must ascertain that gelatinous man at the time of earliest convenience! Begin moving now!"

"…What did he say?"

"All I understood out of that was that he called the doctor fat."

. . .

"Here's your next mission," the client began to inform the Chaotix. "Eggman's hideout is located in the next block ahead of you, but you need chips to enter the hideout. Collect ten chips to gain access into the base."

"Chips? You mean potato chips?" Charmy asked hungrily. Vector smacked his forehead.

"Not those kinds of chips, silly!"

"Bingo chips, Charmy. They're everywhere," Espio added.

"Exactly," added the client. "The ones you will need to find will be slightly different though, but you'll know when you see them."

"Hey, one question," Vector began before the client hung up.

"Yes, yes, what is it?"

"Do we need disguises this time?"

"No, you can take them off now, I suppose…now get to hunting!"

"Whew, thank goodness," Vector and Charmy claimed simultaneously, ripping their disguises right off.

"It was starting to get kinda hard to breathe in there!" Charmy admitted as he took in a breath.

Vector nodded in agreement, rubbing his nose. "Yeah, my mustache was getting a little itchy too."

"All right, let's get serious," Espio said as he started pacing. "If my memory of this place serves, then this place is literally scattered with chips. We'll have to be extra careful in searching for the correct ones."

"I'm sure we'll be fine," Vector stated, throwing his arm around Espio. "After all, we're detectives! We just gotta…detect the chips, right?"

Espio rolled his eyes. "Yes, Vector. Exactly."

"What did our client mean by "a block" though?" Charmy wondered. "Like, an actual block or like a street block or something?"

"I was wondering the same thing myself," Espio admitted, looking ahead. "I'm pretty sure our client meant somewhere in Bingo Highway, because why would the chips work somewhere not here?"

"Maybe the way to the "next block" where the base is has to be opened with the chips," pondered Vector. "But, we'll find out once we collect them all. Let's get going!"

"Careful, Vector," Espio began, trying his hardest to restrain his grin. "Your anxiousness will make you sound like Sonic."

"Yeah, Vector. You wouldn't want that, would ya?" Charmy chimed in, but his grin was much more evident that Espio's.

"Well, think of it this way," Vector injected. "If we get going, we might reach Eggman before Sonic does, and we can beat him by ourselves again!"

Espio was dying to point out that maybe they _hadn't_ been the last ones to get into a scuffle with Eggman, but he wanted to get going too, so he said nothing and simply followed his leader.

. . .

Sonic's team didn't need an introduction- they were already rolling up and down the long blue slides and enjoying it. Sonic more so than the other two, but that was to be expected by then. Tails was simply ecstatic that Sonic and Knuckles weren't at each other's throats for trivial reasons while Knuckles was satisfied with the fact that Sonic wasn't bugging him.

"As interesting as this is," Knuckles began, being the first to speak since they arrived. "I must say, I prefer nature more than these cities that you can probably see from space."

"Why, because they don't have any giant golden statues of me?" Sonic retorted, playfully grinning afterwards.

"Don't start anything, Sonic," Tails warned, though in a more pleading tone than anything else.

"Lighten up, buddy, I'm only kidding," assured Sonic. "I'm sure Knuckles has a sense of humor somewhere beneath his concern for his pet rock."

"I've got one," Knuckles shot back, his frown slowly creeping into a smirk. "It's just a sense that you wouldn't enjoy very much."

"C'mon try me!"

A few seconds later, Sonic was bopped on the head, followed by Knuckles snickering to himself.

"See? Funny!"

Sonic rubbed his now aching head, but his smile never disappeared. "Okay, that was worth a laugh. But if that's what makes you chuckle, then you're going to love this."

He curled up into a ball and threw himself at Knuckles, effectively knocking the echidna over. Once Sonic was back on his feet, standing above Knuckles with an expression full of pride, Knuckles simply stood back up and dusted himself off.

"I've got a great joke as well," Tails interrupted before they started up again. "It's a knock knock joke, and the punch line is a _real_ killer!"

Sonic and Knuckles exchanged a glance before slowly backing away.

"Erm, I'm a little tired of jokes now," Knuckles stated, starting to trot off.

"Yeah, there's a whole highway ahead of us to explore!" added Sonic. He curled up once again and spin dashed away, leaving Knuckles to shrug and Tails to smile in relief.

. . .

Team Rose was wondering if they were seriously misguided. They had a picture that seemed to lie to them, they had thought wrong things about Sonic, and who was to say that they were wrong about Froggy and Chocola as well?

Nevertheless, they were all still determined to find their friends…even if their friends didn't want to be found, in Amy's case.

Anyway, they were currently traversing Bingo Highway, almost instantly running into a group of robots. Amy was the first to take action, holding her hammer up high and bringing it down on the heads of her foes. Big helped out by tripping them with the fishing rod, and Cream would finish them all off by jumping on them.

"They aren't so scary anymore!" Cream smiled, feeling proud of herself.

"That's because we've fought so many already," Amy declared, holding her hammer high. "We've learned all their tricks, and we won't be brought down any longer!"

"Until we run into an even bigger robot," Big pointed out. Amy's face fell as she turned to give him a look.

"Don't say things like that, Big!"

"Well, if we're looking for Eggman because Sonic will probably be there, wouldn't it be logical if he had a new robot with him?"

Amy and Cream were utterly dumbstruck.

. . .

"I'm finally somewhere in my element… and I can't enjoy it because a killer robot and a hedgehog have other plans," Rouge grumbled as she, Shadow, and Omega walked under an arch. Omega was in the lead, since he had the coordinates of where Eggman was currently located. Shadow was lost in thought, causing neither of them to respond to Rouge.

As usual.

Rouge let out a heavy sigh and tried to stop her feet from dragging, but it was hard to do when you weren't motivated to do so. It was only a matter of time before Omega told her to halt because it was hindering progress, or for Shadow to complain because it was annoying.

"Well, whenever we get out of here, I won't have anything to complain about anymore," Rouge shrugged to herself.

She looked onward, not really expecting a response, but she was surprised to see the boys rolling around on another pinball table.

"Ugh, what the heck?" Shadow complained, bounding off the flippers and trying to escape. "I thought we were done with pinball!"

"Sensors indicate that Bingo Highway has pinball tables as well; they're just not as abundant or, how kids these days would say, "fleshed out"."

"You know what? Stick with your robot lingo."

"I'd be willing to acquiesce to your rude claim and demand, Comrade Shadow."

"Yeah, whatever."

. . .

"The first chip has got to be around here," Espio moaned, still fruitlessly looking around. The Chaotix had been hunting for quite some time, and their detecting skills really weren't kicking in anytime soon. Charmy was once again preoccupied by the flashing lights, but was much less obnoxious than in Casino Park.

"Hey…" Vector trailed, noticing a particular reason as to why Charmy had been so silent. "Charmy, whaddya fiddling with so much over there?"

"Oh, uh, well, I, uh-"

Espio yanked the bee out of the air, whirled him around, got a glimpse of what he was holding, and glared.

"Did you _plan_ on telling us you found the first chip already?"

"If I did you woulda taken it away from me cuz you don't trust me!" wailed Charmy, gripping tighter onto the yellow chip.

"Well you still should've told us," Vector scolded lightly, making Charmy's antennas droop. Charmy held it out to Vector anyway, and Espio began to investigate it.

"This looks like a VIP chip," he noted, turning it several times in his hand before giving it back to Charmy, who nearly fainted.

"At least we're not looking for the first chip anymore, per say-"

"But we're still looking nonetheless," sighed Espio.

. . .

After using Triangle Dive, Team Sonic gently landed on an upper ledge, only to be greeted by a Flapper. However, this one was yellow in color and waving around an ominous spotlight. Just before Sonic could run right into its line of sight, Knuckles dragged the team into the shadows, hidden from view.

"What was that for?" Sonic questioned, fighting a futile battle against Knuckles' iron grip.

"If that robot's search light detects us, I bet he'll call in some backup…"

"Eh, the more there are, the more piles of scrap there'll be," shrugged Sonic indifferently.

"Either way, Knuckles is right," Tails pointed out. "We can't get too careless."

"Oh fine, take the fun out of it," Sonic sighed. "In any case, how do you plan to trash it?"

"Tch, simple."

Knuckles grabbed Sonic and hurled him at the robot. A single strike was all it took to cause a small explosion within the creation.

"Why do you always have to throw _me_? !"

"Because," Knuckles said it like it was obvious. "You're clearly the _strongest_ of all of us here. It wouldn't be fair to use _Tails_ like that, you know? Your head is_ much_ harder anyway."

"Har dee har, more humor," grumbled Sonic, brushing stray metal bits out of his quills.

"I'd like to think my head would be just as effective for robot smashing," Tails muttered under his breath. He quickly shook it off and flew a few steps forward. "Well, regardless, we can't afford to waste any more time. The first day is already almost over…and our only encounter with Eggman really didn't seem like our last."

Sonic stared up into the night sky, almost as if the realization hit him. But when he turned around, he just smiled and shrugged, bolting off into the deeper parts of Bingo Highway. Tails just scratched his head and Knuckles shook his.

"I suppose it really would kill him to be serious, eh?"

"You know being serious was never his thing," was Tails' reply to Knuckles' incredulous statement. "He finds it boring."

"I know- he claims I'm "too serious" all the time."

"…well…"

"Don't even say it."

. . .

"…Okay, ahem, anyway," Amy coughed, marching forward. "Big proved a good point. If we're looking for Eggman, we probably have to be very on guard."

"Cool! …er, what did I prove again?"

Amy sighed indifferently as Team Rose ran into another upward gust, which was the only thing standing between them and the rest of the area. Amy snapped her fingers, thus cuing Big to open his umbrella and catch the wind. Cream and Amy gripped him tightly until they were safely back on the ground.

"Now what?" Cream asked, looking around curiously. Amy looked around as well, her mouth turning into a grin as she came across something.

"That's what!"

Amy grabbed Cream and hurried off, with Big chugging after them.

"Where are we going, Amy?" Cream asked between rushed breaths.

Amy let her actions answer, for she stopped right at the edge of a large blue slide that looked like it was very capable of going at high speeds.

"Hey, why'd everybody stop- DAAAH!"

"BIG!" Amy and Cream yelped as the abnormally large cat slammed into them. The trio then stumbled down the slide, eventually going so fast that they rolled up into balls and hoped for the best.

. . .

Once Team Dark had battled through the pinball table, Shadow was ready for something different. He was eager to start sprinting around, knocking heads, taking names, leaving a trail of blazing flames in his path-

"Shadow, you were telling_ me_ to focus," Rouge grumbled, devoid of emotion as she snapped her fingers in front of Shadow's crimson red eyes.

"Sorry, the lack of stimulation in this area is making me dazed."

"Stimulation-? Shadow! You're starting to sound like Omega!"

"And this is a bad thing?" the robot inquired, stepping in between the Mobians.

"Now you'll listen," the bat groaned, turning heel and walking off. "I feel like I'm talking to a brick wall sometimes, you know that-"

"Um, Rouge?"

"Wha-AAAAAAH!"

Shadow and (somewhat) Omega cringed as Rouge started tumbling down a high speed slide, shooting downwards at an incomprehensible speed. Shadow slammed into Omega as he rushed after Rouge. Omega's head spun around for a few moments before he took off following after.

Rouge eventually rolled up into a ball as the slope whipped her around in every direction possible. Shadow was catching up to her fast, grinding on the side rather than sliding down just because he could. Omega, meanwhile, got stuck somewhere along the way thanks to his bulky form, but he was making his way down…just slightly slower than the others.

"Sh-Shadow!" Rouge yelped. "I can't tell where I'm going! I don't like this feeling!"

"Maybe you should have watched where you're going!" Shadow snapped back.

"Just tell me where this slide ends at!"

Shadow rolled his eyes and craned his neck to see if he could find where the slide ended, but he quickly discovered that there was something wrong with that plan.

"Um, Rouge?"

"Yes Shadow?"

"I don't see an end to this…"

. . .

Vector took a deep breath and blew into the wad of gum he had been violently chewing, once again blowing one of his famous jumbo bubbles. It caught on the gust of wind violently blowing upwards, and he, Espio, and Charmy took off to higher parts of the highway.

They had located the second chip, sporting its bright orange 'two' on the front. Now they were scouting around for numbers three and four, which was easier said than done.

"This place is meant to be fun," sighed Vector, glancing around glumly. "But we're searching for chips that someone decided to drop!"

"Hard work isn't always fun," Espio replied, almost emotionlessly. "But it always pays off in the end."

He then snapped to attention, pulling away from the current conversation. His trained ninja senses had picked up a sound the chatting Charmy and venting Vector hadn't heard, and he suddenly darted toward the noise. Both Vector and Charmy knew better than to ask questions and simply followed Espio. When they caught up with the fleeing chameleon, they found out just what he had heard.

"Stay attentive," he ordered, two fingers placed precautiously in the middle of his face. Espio was being encircled by robots, but no signs of apprehension were evident on the ninja's composition. He sprung as soon as the five robots dared to make a move, swiftly causing them to crash.

Vector and Charmy dashed in to help, Charmy latching onto Vector's back as the crocodile started spewing fire. The robots were all caught in flames as Espio darted on the top of each one, swiftly tossing ninja stars into their craniums.

"Get ready, Charmy," Vector stated as he spat gum in all directions. Each projectile he spat made contact with a robot, sticking them to the red-carpeted ground they all stood on. Charmy then let out an excited squeal and charged straight at the nearest robot, impaling it with his stinger. It was definitely enough to get it explode, but there was still four more that needed to be taken care of.

"Leave this to me boys," Vector ordered, wading into the fray with his fists flying.

"I've got it under control, Vector," Espio assured in an even tone, seeming to be meditating in the middle of the fight. "There's no need for more force than necessary."

Vector punched right through one and gave Espio a look. "I think there's a great need, thank you."

"Fine," Espio stated, jumping up and kicking out both his legs. Each ninja boot smacked into a robot, effectively knocking them both out. This left one android, and it was not happy that its backup had been demolished. However, he didn't stay unhappy for long, because Charmy flew up from behind him and literally pulled its head off.

"Ha! I didn't think I could pull that off! Ha ha! Get it?" the bee cackled. Espio smacked his forehead.

"Oh, hilarious, Charmy…"

While Espio was degrading Charmy's sense of humor, Vector was searching through the pile of scrap they had created, for he had seen something…glimmer in the pile. Just as Espio was about to ask what he was digging for, Vector reached in and pulled out two of the chips they needed- one was red and had a three, while the other donned a four and was colored teal. Vector couldn't help but smirk.

"Two for the price of one! A price I happen to like!"

"Good work, Vector," Espio said honestly, smiling a little.

"Hey, you heard them rummaging around down here while I was complaining. You deserve some credit too!"

"I ripped the head off- I get the most!"

"Whatever, Charmy…"

. . .

True to form, Sonic still wasn't taking their crusade through Bingo Highway seriously, even with the threat of time running out breathing down his neck. If he really was taking it seriously, then he was masking it from his teammates quite well, because at that particular moment he was jumping off buildings and rolling down high-speed slides.

"Yeah, woo-hoo! Now this is how to travel a city!"

Tails and Knuckles were cruising silently behind him, intently watching out for anything that might ambush them, especially since Sonic wouldn't be paying attention. During their intent scan on the highway, Knuckles' eyes came across something he had never seen before, and reacted in the most natural way.

He attacked it.

"YAAAH!" his voice rang out, tackling the yellow-colored object without restraint.

"Sheesh Knuckles, what do you have against bingo chips?" Sonic chortled. "Got some secret past involving losing a serious bingo game?"

"Bingo…what?"

"You don't know what bingo is?" Tails asked, more bewildered than he should've been.

"Er…uh…"

"Don't worry Knux!" Sonic assured, landing one elbow on Knuckles' shoulder. "You can learn how to play easily!"

"Yeah! This whole highway is basically a Bingo table, hence its name," Tails explained.

"Really?"

"The fun is just about to begin!" Sonic cheered, running forward and bringing Tails and Knuckles along with him. "We've already got one Bingo chip- let's go get some more!"

"Is Bingo usually this heart-stopping, Tails?"

"Not when you play Sonic-style, I suppose…"

. . .

"Wasn't exactly what I planned," Amy hummed, she and her team still tumbling hopelessly down the slides.

"Just be careful not to fall!" Cream warned, Amy attempting to give her a "Don't tell me the obvious" look.

However, it might've been in Amy's best interest to take her advice, because the particular slide they were gliding down eventually came to a stop.

Amy flung off the slide and felt weightless as she was suspended in the air, letting out a yelp when gravity took effect and started to pull her back down. Cream squeaked and grabbed Big, flying off the slide and descending down after Amy.

"Grab Big's foot, Amy!" Cream shouted when she was close enough to Amy.

"No need to tell me twice."

When Big was in reach, Amy wrapped her hand around his leg and latched onto him, refusing to let go no matter what. Cream sighed in relief and lowered them all down, ending up on a pinball table. Once they were sliding and bumping around, Cream turned to Amy and flashed her a grin.

"I warned you!"

"Cream…"

"Ah ha ha…sorry!"

. . .

"Remember when you said you didn't see an end? Well I think I figured out what it was- a DEAD end!"

"Rouge, I'm sure we'll be fine."

Shadow's words couldn't have come sooner, because the slide came to an abrupt stop, with Shadow and Rouge tumbling over the edge. Shadow landed first, thus holding out his arms and catching Rouge moments later.

"Say, where's Omega?" Rouge asked, glancing around. Shadow just put on a blank face and dropped the bat.

"Hmph. You're welcome."

As Rouge picked herself up off the ground, Omega continued to slowly inch down the slide, to which Shadow gave a disapproving look. Omega caught the glance as his eyes turned red.

"My sensors have picked up that expression of distaste, Shadow. It is not my fault this slide has massive amounts of friction."

"You're causing the friction, genius," Shadow grunted, jumping up and tugging Omega out of the slide. Omega was wedged free, thus causing the two of them to stumble over and fall into a heap. Rouge helped them both up and pointed down the path.

"Why're you boys lying around? So much for in a rush!"

Shadow wisely held in the growl that was building up while Omega started up on explaining how it was slide's fault for their delay. Regardless, they trudged on, eventually coming to another area where they need to use Triangle Dive. Shadow glared at the large cylinder of wind silently, until he noticed Rouge holding out her hand to him. Grumbling a bit, he grabbed her arm, followed by taking Omega's as well. The trio was then picked up by the perpetual gust, ascending up to the next area of the highway.

. . .

"…So basically, once you get rid of an entire row, you get a Bingo, and you win!" Tails finished explaining to Knuckles as Sonic rolled into their sixth Bingo chip.

"C'mon, we need number nine to win!" Sonic exclaimed, rolling around on the prowl for the lucky number.

All three of them rolled over a ramp, flinging them into the air where bingo chip number seven awaited, which Tails claimed as they shifted into flight formation. Knuckles was slowly starting to get the gist of how the game worked, but Sonic's extremities were skewering his thoughts just a little.

"Here comes number eight!" Sonic announced, trying to steer his friends in the right direction. He was the first to head towards the chip, but missed it by a small margin. Tails tried to get it as well, along with Knuckles, but the path split suddenly, rendering them both unable to obtain it.

"Sorry, Sonic," Tails apologized sheepishly. Sonic just waved it off.

"Aw, it wasn't that important. We just need the last chip to win it!"

"You mean that purple one over there?" Knuckles asked absent-mindedly, Sonic following where Knuckles was pointing. Sure enough, on a side path, was the ninth bingo chip. The hedgehog worked himself up into a frenzy trying to edge over to it. Tails was already too far down the highway to get to it, so Knuckles worked his way over to the out-of-the-way path before he missed his opportunity.

His palm brushed against the bingo chip, but it was enough to claim it as his and secure the team a Bingo.

"BINGO!" Tails and Sonic cheered, slapping a high five as rings rained down on them. Knuckles smiled a little as he pumped his fists, joining in on the celebration he caused.

"Yeah, Bingo!"

"Way to go, Knuckles!" Sonic exclaimed, flashing him a thumbs up. And for once, Knuckles returned it.

. . .

"It looks like we won't be able to go on," Rouge stated, looking over another edge. A much bigger super-slide was cast before them, but there were a few barriers blocking certain areas, making getting by nearly impossible. Shadow gave the slide one glance before grabbing Rouge and Omega and bolting.

"No problem, let's get moving!"

Rouge would have liked to protest, but the slope of the slide forced the team to start rolling, and Omega ended up crashing into a stray "one" in his path.

"…what was that?" Shadow questioning, trying to look back to see what Omega had hit.

"It's a Bingo chip!" Rouge cried, rolling into a chip with a three on it. "If we gather the right ones, we can get a Bingo!"

"Where?"

"You missed the giant Bingo cards hanging above the slide, huh?"

Shadow glanced up, and sure enough, several Bingo cards loomed above their heads, each of them missing certain numbers. He raised an eyebrow curiously, but simply continued to roll down the slide.

"The things humans come up with…"

. . .

"This next table is pinball with Bingo!" Cream cried excitedly, running onto the table with no hesitation whatsoever.

"What's Bingo?" questioned Big, scratching his head.

Amy smirked to herself. "What, have you been living with Knuckles or something?"

"You just have to light a row using the number, Mr. Big!" Cream explained, ignoring Amy's comment. "Are you ready?"

Big shrugged and nervously glanced at the hovering bingo boards above their heads. "I sure hope I am!"

"Here, I'll show you!"

Cream demonstrated by rolling into a ball, then knocking into a yellow bingo chip. Big glanced at all the bingo boards lined down the highway, watching as the number one disappeared in all of them.

"See, Big? It's easy!" Amy assured, claiming the number three that was nearby. Big nodded and decided to try it for himself. Sure enough, when he approached the fourth Bingo chip, he picked it up instantly.

"Yay! Bingo!"

"Not quite yet Big, but…you're getting the idea!"

. . .

So everyone continued rolling, weaving their way down the highways. Knuckles claimed another five, Cream hit the six, Big managed to claim a seven, and Rouge and Shadow tag teamed to acquire the eighth Bingo chip.

"Heh, it's not so bad!" Sonic chuckled, spin dashing into the ninth and final Bingo chip. Everyone's different Bingo boards started flashing lights, with everyone receiving different bingos.

"Yay, we got one!" Amy cheered as the way forward was opened.

"We got a bunch of rings too!" Cream added, holding them out for her team to see.

One road down, Rouge was cheering like crazy, being surrounded by twice as many rings than Cream had.

"Can you believe we got two of them?" Rouge squealed, trying to stuff and the rings in her pockets. "What're the odds?"

"Very high, considering that there were only nine numbers and the boards were only three by three-"

"Oh, stop being such a wet blanket, Omega!" interrupted Rouge, throwing a few rings at Shadow. "Why not celebrate?"

Shadow had said nothing, but it was obvious that he couldn't find anything to complain about.

Meanwhile, Team Sonic was enjoying the high road, surfing through a sea of rings that was worth more than Rouge's and Cream's rings combined.

"Triple bingo, baby!" Sonic exclaimed, throwing rings into the air like a kid experiencing snow for the first time.

"We're rich! Rich!" laughed Tails, enjoying their winnings as much as Sonic was.

"Too bad we don't have much of a use for all this," muttered Knuckles, dampening the mood. Sonic just leapt next to Knuckles and slung a casual arm over his shoulder.

"Aw, lighten up! This is like a sign that things are finally looking up for us!"

Knuckles rolled his eyes, but hid a minute smile and Sonic raised a fist in the air and cheered aloud.

And as if on cue, members of the other teams cheered as well.

. . .

Cheering. All they could hear was the constant, seemingly nonstop cheering that echoed through everywhere in the highway. Vector looked around, watching two girls and a cat throwing their hands in the air, the team they had faced at the Power Plant dancing in a sea of rings, but not even _that_ riled up Vector.

It was when Sonic and his team flew overhead, sliding in even more rings than the other two teams combined.

Everyone looked so happy, so glad to be doing what they were doing, but Team Chaotix knew little of their_ own_ problems. All three, especially Vector, figured that they were just at Bingo Highway to have fun, but as with the other teams' problems, they really had no clue.

"Hmph, going after Eggman my rump," growled Vector, thinking of Team Dark and recalling the gleeful look on Rouge's face when she slid by.

"Maybe he really is around here somewhere and they just got distracted by the bingo slides?" Charmy suggested, scratching his head.

"I also doubt that they are just here for fun, but…"

"But what, Espio?" Vector asked, folding his arms and tapping his foot. The ninja didn't want to respond, because he was unsure of what to think, and there was nothing he disliked more than being conflicted.

"…well, they really could be here for fun," Espio finally replied after an awkward silence.

"How come we can't have fun like them?" Charmy wondered, sitting on the ground and pouting.

"We have jobs. We need to get paid. We can't just go on crusader missions because we feel like it! That rogue bunch are probably a bunch of liars, and we all know Sonic's probably out and about because it's fun, and I don't know about that girly team…but I bet they don't have very many intentions either!" Vector bellowed.

"Calm down, Vector," Espio said after a while, giving Vector a chance to calm down prior to saying so. "In all honesty, so what if there's others too? Who cares if we're not alone on this adventure, and what's the point if they've got different reasons for doing so than us? As long as we do what were supposed to, everything's going to be fine."

"You're right," agreed Vector, sheepishly staring at the ground. "It's just…we'll, let's assume that they all heard about the threat Eggman posed and are going after him, while we're doing what we can as well."

Espio nodded, indicating he understood. "Yeah, go on…"

"Well, in the end, Team Sonic, if not all of them, are going to get the glory…and where'll we be?"

"Back in the slums of unpopularity," sighed Charmy, frowning more than he probably had in his entire life.

"So is the life of a ninja," mumbled Espio. "Doing good deeds in the shadows, and no one knows it was you…"

"…easy for you to say," grunted Vector. "Charmy and I aren't ninjas! We'd _like_ to be thanked!"

Espio just shrugged, once again at an awkward loss for words. Meanwhile, Charmy's brief depressed demeanor disappeared as he walked a few paces as he picked up a green chip, his classic grin returning to his expression.

"Hey, I found a chip!" Charmy exclaimed, holding up the green disc with a five on it. "We're half way there, at least!"

"For once, your optimism is assuring," Espio stated, patting Charmy on the head. Charmy beamed for a few seconds before shaking it off and staring bewildered at Espio.

"Wow, I'm getting praised. I must've been knocked out by something."

Espio put on a look, but didn't bother retaliating. Instead, he turned to Vector and gestured to Charmy's latest find.

"We'd better get going. It'll be tomorrow soon, and it will be good for us to get a rest in between then."

Vector said nothing, instead staring back at the highway that laced around the path they were currently on. The cheers and aura of happiness had all but faded, and there was naught a trace of anyone having even passed.

. . .

For everyone except the Chaotix, the journey through Bingo Highway continued all the same. A pinball table, a hallway of sorts, followed by another rigorous round of road bingo. Rinse and repeat, and that became the story for all teams.

The only slight difference was, Team Dark had hit a small snag in their mission.

"Useless heaps of metal!" Shadow yelled, shattering one to pieces with nothing more than his razor-sharp quills.

"I'll eliminate them all!" shouted Omega over the whirl of his brethren, blasting them to bits with his arsenal of weapons.

The closest Rouge had gotten to fight anything in this particular fight was where Omega used her as a biological weapon, but after he resorted to using his guns, Rouge was pretty much useless. She tried joining in with her Tornado Kick, but Shadow would already rush in and take out the robots by himself. Then she tried to help Omega instead, but when he could take out five clunkers in one shot, help wasn't really needed.

"Hmph! They don't understand the importance of ladies first, do they?" she complained, folding her arms and tapping her foot in a Sonic fashion.

As she tapped her foot, something started tapping on _her_ shoulder. Hardly caring she simply glanced over her shoulder and uttered, "Hm?"

A robot similar to the one that had kidnapped Shadow in Casino Park hovered above her, waving before grasping Rouge. Rouge yelped and struggled, but she was realizing why it took Shadow so long to break free in the first place.

"You obviously have no idea just whom who you're messing with!" she snarled, wrenching around until she worked herself into a furious spin. The robot let go of Rouge instantly, and Rouge may have escaped, but the robot couldn't escape the edge of Rouge's foot.

Rouge landed stylishly as the machine erupted behind her, leaving quite the explosion. Just as Rouge was about to sashay over to Shadow and Omega and brag about how she'd managed to escape the very same type of robot that had abducted the ultimate life form…

…_two_ of those robots came up from behind her, snatched her arms, and carried her away.

"AAAIIIIIIII!"

Rouge's high pitched shriek caught Shadow's ears as he was finishing tearing a robot in half. His head snapped in the direction of Rouge's cry. As soon as he saw the two robots carrying her away, Shadow dashed after them, nearly blowing Omega over in the process. Once Omega unscrambled his sensors, he followed after the hedgehog as well.

. . .

After getting a slew of Bingos, Team Sonic drifted a little from the main highway to take a small break. Winning so much was practically overkilling them, and neither Sonic nor Knuckles thought they could take along so many rings.

However, their ring problem was quickly solved when they were taken by surprise and blasted by a missile.

"Everyone okay?" Sonic asked, coughing up the aftermath smoke.

"Yeah…" Tails trailed, panting from the sudden shock.

"What shot that?" Knuckles had questioned, but once he shortly received his answer, he didn't want to know anymore.

At least five robots that resembled the one that kidnapped Tails surrounded them, along with the one that had fired the missile. Team Sonic quickly stood back to back, their lost rings scattering along the red carpet, no longer being paid any mind to.

"Everyone, don't let them grab you," Sonic ordered. "We don't want to have another wild goose chase on our hands!"

"That wasn't my fault," Tails mumbled, but Sonic and Knuckles had already jumped into action before he could get all the words out.

Sonic stunned them all by running around in furious circles, creating a blue tornado that tossed the robots into the air like pizza dough. Then as they started to come back down, Knuckles rammed his fists into them, weakening them even more. Tails then summoned them into flight formation, performing Thunder Shoot in an instant. After colliding with three of the robots, Sonic and Knuckles went solo again.

Sonic's foot practically sliced one of the robots in half, while another crept up behind him in a feeble attempt to secure the hedgehog. Sonic simply smirked and performed a bicycle kick, knocking the robot away and completely changing its mind about capturing him. He then curled up and threw himself, slamming into the robot several times until it burst.

Knuckles, meanwhile, was practically dancing with the other Klagen. Its arms jabbed forward, trying to grip Knuckles, but Knuckles would shimmy away in quick spouts, making it look like they were performing some sort of samba. Eventually, Knuckles tired of jerking away and just brought his fist forward, making direct contact with the clunker. It burst into pieces just as the remaining two Klagens and the missile bot chose then to advance upon him. The missile bot fired another projectile, but this time, Knuckles grabbed it and threw it right back at the creations. The missile bot dodged, but the Klagens were detonated moments later.

"Yeah, how's that?"

Infuriated beyond its own comprehension, the missile bot took aim at Knuckles once again, but felt an odd tapping on what could be called its shoulder. It turned around, only to meet face to fist with Sonic.

It skid across the red carpet, landing at Tails' feet. The fox was currently holding one of the arms that a recently destroyed robot left behind.

"I think you could use a hand," Tails said with a large grin, whacking the robot with it until it was fully out of commission.

"What, were you just waiting for a chance to use that line or what?" scoffed Knuckles. Tails just scratched the back of his head.

"I think I hang around Sonic too much…"

"Hey, a daily dose of me is what everyone needs!" Sonic claimed instantly, getting Knuckles to roll his eyes.

"A single dose of you is more than I could ever want," groaned the echidna. "But, on a better note, can we go play bingo again? I was just starting to get good at it!"

Sonic and Tails snuck each other a smirk, but Knuckles had definitely caught it.

"Of course I mean on our way to finding Eggman, but-"

"Whatever you say, Knuck-a-roo," Sonic shrugged, starting to jog off. "I'm pretty sure there's another board on the way, so let's go!"

Knuckles, however, stayed where he was. It wasn't until that Tails snapped his fingers in front of his face that he spoke up.

"…where did he come up with Knuck-a-roo? !"

. . .

"This is fun!" Big cheered, starting up the third bingo game for Team Rose. He didn't quite catch on as fast as expected, but he was decent enough. He rolled into a two and cheered when they claimed another bingo.

"Good job, Big!" Cream congratulated, but instead of the many rings that should've fallen, a golden key came down instead and landed in front of the young rabbit. "Hm…?"

She picked up the gold key and stared at it, getting lost in its golden sheen. It wasn't until Amy tapped her on the shoulder that she snapped out of it.

"Oh…yes?"

"What are you staring so hard at?"

"Big won a key…" Cream started, holding it up to show Amy. "I wonder what it unlocks?"

"Wow, it does look mighty important," Amy agreed, taking it from Cream and examining it. "If we're lucky, we might find a treasure or something!"

"What kind of treasure?" Big asked, joining in on the key observing.

"I don't know…but whatever it might be, it has to be pretty!"

. . .

"I'll take the lead!"

"Please don't drop us…"

"Be careful not to fall!"

"Can it, Espio."

Charmy surprisingly had an easy time getting the Chaotix over the newfound gap, and actually landed nicely. Espio and Vector were extremely grateful, and weren't going to complain about anything. Vector then took the lead and led the group down a glitzy hallway, which they ran through until they ran across the light blue colored chip.

"There's number six," Espio stated, stashing it away.

"Only four more!" cheered Charmy, pumping a fist.

"Hopefully they won't be too hard to locate," Vector commented, looking around.

True to Vector's words, they found the pink seven chip on a pinball table, and their client called them up to check on their progress.

"Seven? Great. Now go and get the rest!"

And that was all he said.

"Wow, he sure sounded grateful," mulled Vector.

"Maybe he expected us to be finished already," suggested Espio. "I know I would've."

. . .

"It's all over if you fall," Omega told Shadow as said hedgehog was doing several acrobatic moves through the slides of Bingo Highway. He completely bypassed any pinball tables they passed, and he was now running between the slides, doing everything to catch up with the robots. Omega helped out by firing at any robots that flew by, and surprising both of them, they worked well together.

They had been enemies once, slowly reducing to mere rivals, but now they could stand the other's presence without intense glares. Rouge had said that they could all be friends, and maybe she was right…

Shadow pondered this over as he streaked down the power slides, nearly becoming one with them the faster he went. Neither he nor Omega could see where the robots had taken Rouge, but killer instinct would be enough to lead them in the right direction.

Along with Omega's radar, scanner, tracker, and other gadgets used for locating things.

. . .

So after navigating stretching red die, rolling down hallways, breaking through at least two windows, and battling through a pinball table, Team Sonic reached another bingo table, to Knuckles' delight. However, it was only then that Sonic chose to enlighten them all with this helpful advice:

"Be careful not to fall!"

"Sorry, Sonic. I had plans of falling several thousand meters to my death today, so I can't take that advice."

"Hmph. If you're going to land cracks like that Knuckles, I'mma ban you from sarcasm."

"I'd rather ban your cheesy quotes and obvious advice!"

"At ease!" Tails yelled, ceasing the debacle. "C'mon, bingo…fun, and doesn't require arguing! Unless you're at one of those old retirement homes where they take it way too seriously."

"They do treat it like it's an iconic sport or something," agreed Sonic, getting lost in thought.

Knuckles clenched his fists due to his increasing growing confusion. "…what?"

"Whoops, sorry to exclude ya there, Knuckles. Let's just play, m'kay?"

Dropping the subject, the three of them spilt up to hunt down Bingo Chips. Each of them had gathered one, but Sonic missed number four, and just after Tails had claimed number five, Knuckles rushed by six without even realizing.

"Wow, we must have used up all our luck earlier on," Sonic stated, scratching his head as he rolled into chip number seven.

"Let's not miss the last two then!" Tails declared, he and Knuckles quickly went separate directions.

Tails took a left path, rolling down a long blue slide that overlooked most of the highway. If he hadn't been so intent on getting the eighth bingo chip. It was impossible to miss, since it was directly in his path, but who couldn't say that a meteor or something wouldn't put a stop to that?

"I got it!" Tails announced, collecting the chip without any outside interference. "Go for it, Knuckles!"

Knuckles, meanwhile, had veered to the right, where a ninth bingo chip was located. It wasn't directly in his way like Tails was, so he was going to have to stay extra intent. He dodged around the bumpers in the highway, not stopping his serving until bingo chip number nine had been collected.

Sonic was staying smack in the middle, rolling along until Tails and Knuckles rolled right up alongside him. They barreled up a slide that seemed to ascend right into the night sky, and as the three were flung into the air, the lights on the bingo board started dancing, thus cuing them to cheer:

"BINGO!"

. . .

Three chips were left for the Chaotix to find, and at the rate they were going, it wouldn't be much longer until they found them all. Their client also didn't seem very happy about not being completed with their mission yet, so it was probably in their best interest to pick up the pace a bit.

"Enemies up ahead!" Charmy suddenly shouted, pointing forward. "Vector, there's a lot of them!"

"All right, leave 'em to me!"

"I hope you don't think I'm just going to stand here," Espio grumbled, glancing at the impending quartet of robots. Vector smiled to himself as he placed a hand on Espio.

"Of course not. I couldn't do this without you!"

With that, he grabbed Charmy as well, and hurled them both at the oncoming robots. Charmy was utterly thrilled to be thrown again, but Espio took it more like a stain on his dignity.

"I told you that I would never be doing that," Espio nearly hissed. Vector shrugged.

"I'd worry more about the robot about to karate-chop you."

Espio didn't even need to look- he flung his fist backwards and KO-ed the robot no problem. Vector nodded, impressed.

As he was nodding, he noted that a blue chip fell out of the robot, and Charmy scooped it off the ground. It was now their eighth one!

However, before anyone could say anything about anything, another herd of robots showed up, this one being a gang of six.

"All right, everyone focus on just two!" Espio ordered, charging at the two he had already picked. He acquainted one with the back of his foot, followed by turning himself invisible and allowing the second robot's attack to completely miss him. It also gifted him with a great advantage, being able to attack with hardly a hope of a counterattack.

He struck the side of the first robot harshly, followed by spinning around and greeting it without another kick. This caused it to fall forward, and Espio resorted to a slightly barbaric attack of jumping on it several times.

Barbaric or not, it did the trick.

Espio jumped away and alighted back on the ground not too far away, simply holding out his hand. The robot combusted afterwards, and a purple chip flew out of the aftermath. Espio snatched it out of the air, stuffed it away, and casually walked off.

. . .

Cream eagerly wanted to be the one to hold the key again, watching as Amy's fist stayed tight around it. She had found it, and if they came across what the key went to, she wanted to unlock it.

But, Cream thought again, Amy was their leader, so perhaps it was best that it was kept with her.

On the other hand, it was her reckless decisions that had gotten them into several dangerous situations…

…and then, Cream thought, Amy was her best friend, and thus she should give her a little more credit. She tried her best, and only did what she thought was right.

"That's a lot of robots…" Cream suddenly trailed, snapping out of her thoughts.

Big whistled, watching the squad of robots approaching them. "Wow, you're right!"

He then grabbed Amy and Cream and bowled them into the robots, doing plenty of damage and knocking all the robots over. While Cream was trying to pull herself together, Amy got to her feet, stumbling around in a discombobulated fashion.

"I…dunno what just happened," Amy grumbled groggily. She pulled out her hammer though and growled. "But something's going to be whacked, and it won't be me!"

She started spinning, hammer outstretched and smashing through any metal it came in contact with. Big and Cream shielded themselves as pieces of metal flew in every direction. Amy eventually stopped spinning, but her head certainly didn't.

"Ooooh…not doing that for a while…"

. . .

"Omega, do your thing and attack them," Shadow demanded darkly, the robot lunging in front of him and firing crazily.

The duo of robots was just within eyesight, and Shadow wanted them taken down as soon as they could. Rouge glanced up as a bullet whizzed over her head, followed by a dozen of missiles.

"Watch where you're shooting, please!" she called into the wind.

Eventually, Omega finally managed to shoot down one of the robots, causing both the kidnappers and Rouge to tumble out of the air. Shadow instantly ran over as Omega continued to fire at will. He dodged around Omega's rapid fire, not stopping until he reached the collapsed robot. Rouge was trapped under both of them, able to do nothing but reach her hand out. Exasperated, Shadow threw himself at the one that Omega hadn't shot, causing it to violently explode. Shadow was tossed away by the following boom, but managed to pick himself up quick enough to jump back into the explosion and retrieve Rouge.

The second robot, or what was left of it, tried to pull Shadow down, but Shadow stomped his foot and crushed what remained, finishing making his daring escape. He made one large bound over the blue carpeted floor, landing next to Omega stylishly and setting Rouge down. Then, all three of them turned to see what was left of the robots.

They were nothing but smoldering pieces of metal.

"Whoa…" Rouge breathed, realizing that could've been her if urgent actions hadn't been taken. She turned to thank Shadow, but she was beaten to the punch by an agitated look from the hedgehog.

"Are you insane?" Shadow questioned sharply, practically glaring daggers. "What exactly did you do to cause two of those things to come after you?"

"It was three, actually," Rouge interrupted in a huff, folding her arms. "I was able to take down one before they captured me, unlike you, hon."

Shadow clenched his fists and tried his best to prevent himself from lashing out in a blind rage. "Regardless! You could've been a part of that pile of ashes over there! If it wasn't for Omega and I, you'd be nothing! What do you have to say for yourself, Troublemaker?"

Shadow was expecting Rouge to either bow down and apologize or lash out in a fury of her own (the latter more likely, the former more pleasing), but he instead received something even more outlandish.

She hugged him.

"Ha! You and Omega do care about me!" she exclaimed, clutching Shadow like she'd never see him again.

"Wh-what-?"

"Looks like I'm not just extra baggage for you two after all!" Rouge smirked, releasing Shadow and floating smugly over them. "Usually you guys practically ignore me, but you went out of your way just to save me!"

"Hmph," grumbled Shadow, stretching out the sound to make it sound like three words. "I wasn't saving you, I just knew we'd get nowhere without you, so I saved your skill."

"Yeah, I've heard something like that before," Rouge sighed, now leaning on Shadow. "But that's not the whole story now, is it?"

"I only assisted because Shadow seemed very intent on destroying the robots," Omega intervened. "But enough on that- my scanners are picking up interesting activity!"

"How interesting?" Rouge and Shadow asked simultaneously, edging towards Omega. Omega simply lifted one of his large arms and pointed to the direction of the activity. Rouge and Shadow slowly followed Omega's gaze only to gasp and scowl in shock, respectively.

"Eggman," Shadow growled, clenching his fists. "Looks like it's time to take names, ask questions, and finally get some answers."

Shadow jumped off the edge, bounding down toward the area where the doctor was currently rampaging. Rouge prepared to fly after him, but Omega stopped her.

"C'mon Omega- Eggman's down there! You know, annihilation, fire, fire and what not?"

"I know," Omega replied, with more of a heavy tone that usual. "And, I have a question of my own."

"So ask Eggman, then. Let's go-"

"It is a question for you, not for that incompetent doctor."

Rouge had to mull over that one for a few moments.

"Do you think…that Comrade Shadow really saved you because he cared?"

Rouge was silent for several moments before she turned to Omega and smiled.

"Yeah…I think I do. After all, it wouldn't be the first time."

She flew after Shadow, Omega accepting the answer as it was and following after as well. As they did so, Rouge's smile quickly melted into a frown.

"Not that he remembers…"

. . .

"…and here's the last one, simple and clean," Vector sighed happily. He was standing on top of a die, reaching up into a hidden ledge and grabbing the silver chip that resided there. Charmy pumped his fists into the air as Espio called up the client.

"Yes, we have ascertained all bingo chips as requested," Espio explained. "We are ready to accept our next mission whenever you deem is a good time."

"Good job, boys! I can always count on you!"

"See, he gives us praise," Espio snapped to Vector, pulling away from the phone. However, Vector wasn't really paying any attention. "Uh, Vector?"

"What's up with Vector, if I may ask?" the client interrupted curiously.

"It's probably nothing; he's just starting off into space. Now, where are we to go next-?"

"Boys, I see Eggman again!" Vector barked out of the blue. Espio, Charmy, and the client snapped to attention, with the former two running to Vector's side.

"Eggman? If you see him, then go down there and take him out!"

"But-" Espio began to protest.

"That's your next mission. Take him down!"

"Hmm…all right, then."

"And best of all, there's no sign of Team Sonic!" Vector cheered. The client seemed to get extra excited after hearing that particular quip.

"Even more the reason to get going!"

Vector smirked and started to head off. "Hey, I'm thinking I like this guy a little more now!"

"Whatever- we have very limited time to waste," Espio declared darting off.

Charmy, meanwhile, started singing about how great it would be to take down Eggman again.

. . .

Returning back down to the ground, bouncing over a group of springs, and demolishing another robot, Team Sonic was in oddly high spirits. It wasn't too shocking, since Sonic's natural optimism shown as always, but it seemed to spread to Tails and Knuckles as well. Tails was a lot less worried about things, and even Knuckles had loosened up a little.

All three of the members were wishing that it would stay this way all the time.

But when this adventure was over, it would probably go back to way it was before- Tails returning home to his workshop, Knuckles going back to Angel Island, and Sonic running off into the world, following the sound of the next adventure that was calling to him.

"…did any of us mention how nice of a night it is in Casino Park?" Sonic asked, the group currently in flight formation and flying down to their next destination.

"I'm pretty sure someone did, but eh, it's a good time to mention it again," Knuckles decided with a smile.

"All right! Aerial bingo!" Tails cheered, and Sonic and Knuckles glanced around.

As they descended, they found that they were surrounded by several bingo cards, along with their corresponding chip scattered around. Knuckles brushed against one with his foot, and watched as the number one disappeared from all the boards.

"Whoa."

The rest of the descent was spent calmly swaying back and forth, collecting the bingo chips on their way down. It was so soothing, and so silent, that it was hard to believe it was Team Sonic that was experiencing it.

And being Team Sonic, that placid moment was never meant to last.

"Eggman!" Sonic suddenly yelled, his voice piercing and shattering the moment of peace.

It only took that one, single word to throw them all into a frenzy.

"What? !" Tails yelped, dropping Knuckles and Sonic. Knuckles instinctively began to glide, but Sonic continued to plummet.

"Where'd you see him?" Knuckles barked, glancing around. "Where? Where? !"

"Hello? Mammal without a freakish mutation about to die here!"

Tails glanced down, took a half second to wince, and flew faster than Sonic had ever witnessed to catch the hedgehog before being nearly impaled by a pointed pinball bumper.

Sonic released his breath.

"Okay. Next time someone spots Eggman, don't say so unless we're solid ground," he panted. "I swear, my life flashed before my eyes. And most of my life is already a blur as it is."

Tails apologized to Sonic for dropping him several times as he placed him very gently on the ground. Knuckles lowered himself afterward, still searching around for Eggman. He even sniffed the air for good measure.

"So what direction did you see Eggman?" Knuckles asked. Sonic, still a little shaken from the incident, pointed in the direction.

"He was over there…"

Sonic curled up and bounced up the nearby walls, hoping to get a better perspective of the situation. Sure enough, Eggman was prowling the area…

…but so was someone else.

Sonic's eyes grew wide as he leapt down, grabbed Tails and Knuckles, and bolted.

"We gotta juice!" was all Sonic gasped out, briefing Tails and Knuckles no more than that on his intentions.

And Tails and Knuckles weren't going to pry, either.

. . ..

"We have terrible sense of direction," Amy sighed, getting the feeling that she and her team had no idea of where to go next. It was getting really late, and Big and Amy could tell that Cream was getting tired.

"It has been a long day, going to Seaside Hill, Grand Metropolis, battling on a building, and now being here in Casino Park…" Big trailed.

"I'm a little exhausted too," admitted Amy, stretching her back. "But we can't stop now! We'll get left behind! We'll lose Sonic's trail, Eggman's trail…and then how will we know where to go next?"

"I don't know if I can keep going…" trailed Cream, yawning harshly as she searched for a comfortable place to sit. "I'm usually in bed by this time!"

"Well, Cream, I- Augh! Look out!"

"Huh- oops? !"

Cream tripped over something large and rectangular, and luckily for her that there was carpet where she landed. Shaking it off, she glanced at what she had tripped over and gasped.

"Hey…it's a cage!"

Cream crawled over to it and peered inside, trying to make out what it was.

"Whatever it is, it is pretty! You were right, Amy!"

When she didn't receive a reply, she turned to Big and Amy who were gawking at the yellow object.

"That's a Chaos Emerald!" Amy exclaimed, hurrying over next to Cream. Cream blinked in surprise.

"What's a Chaos Emerald?"

"You never really found out, have you?" Amy asked. "Well…it's one of seven, and it contains powers of immense chaos, which can either be used for good or for evil…"

Cream shrugged. "It sounds sorta familiar…"

"Yeah! Sonic uses them all the time to save the day!" Amy gushed. "He turns this beautiful shade of gold, gains a lot of power, and defeats anything in his path!"

"I used to own that emerald," Big interrupted, ruining Amy's fantasy. "It was my good luck charm, until Froggy swallowed it, grew a tail, and then I had battle a watery-creature to get him back, with Sonic's help."

"It's also the same emerald that was given to Tails as a reward for saving Station Square from a bomb," added Amy. "He used it to power his airplane, and eventually had to clone it to try and trick Eggman, but that plan failed terribly, but Sonic still managed to use the fake emerald to save all of us and his own life."

"Wow, I missed a lot…I hardly remember all of that happening," Cream stated. "It was all over the news though, and my mom tells me the stories all the time…"

"It's probably better that you weren't there either of those times," Amy pointed out. "It may have turned out okay, but it was still scary all the same."

The group was silent for a while until Cream perked up and pointed at Amy's pocket.

"Amy! Do you think the key will unlock the cage?"

"Oh wow, I didn't even think of that," Amy confessed, pulling out the key. "Too busy walking down memory lane, I suppose…"

She held the key, slowly inserting it into the lock. Cream looked extra eager as the key slid in. Amy turned it, and a satisfying click echoed out.

"It worked! It worked!" Amy squealed uncontrollably. Cream reached for the emerald, but Amy had scooped it up in her excitement. "It's another step towards reaching Sonic, and another toward finding Eggman!"

As she danced around with the emerald, Cream was about to ask Big what he thought of all this, but he was stunned by something behind her. Cream turned around to figure out what he was looking at, only to fall silent.

"Hey, how come you guys are all quiet? We found a Chaos Emerald for crying out loud!"

However, just as she said that, a rather large shadow loomed over the team, and Amy instinctively brought the Chaos Emerald closer to her as she turned around.

"Well, well, well…looking for me, my dear?"


	10. Robot Carnival

Because We're Sonic Heroes

Chapter 9: Robot Carnival

Team Rose was definitely wide awake after being confronted by that nightmare.

"You guys again?" Eggman groaned as he descended in a hovering machine from nowhere and floated in front of them all.

"Him again," boomed Big.

"Bedtime, kiddies! Now to tuck you in…"

"We found Eggman, Amy…" Cream squeaked. "Now where's Mr. Sonic?"

Amy slightly panicked, glancing around as if Sonic would pop out at any given moment. "Ah…ah…"

"Oh, how cute," Eggman bellowed, flying a little higher than before. "You think your little hero is going to come…well, you're _wrong!_"

He dramatically pointed forward, causing several of his robot minions to rush forward.

"GET THEM!"

"I think you've underestimated our power!" Amy declared, pulling out her hammer and running into the fray.

"Dr. Eggman, please don't interrupt us," Cream begged, standing off to the side as Amy caused several cases of robot demolition.

"Stay out of our way!" Big boomed as he smashed his fists into the nearest clunker.

Amy and Big alternated attacking robots, since they were encircled around the group. Big would toss Cream at one with his fishing rod while Amy would take the next one in line by surprise and smash it to pieces. Eggman watched in unexpected surprise as Team Rose took down his robots so mercilessly- perhaps he had underestimated them?

Another round of robots was put on the table, and as Amy and Big attacked them, Cream trotted over to the doctor and gave him a questioning look.

"Why are you here, Dr. Eggman? What do you want with us?"

Eggman let out a low chuckle, descending his ride so he could be face to face with her.

"I didn't want anything from you, but now that you have claimed the Chaos Emerald I was after, I have a reason to attack you!"

"We'll never let you have it!" she retorted angrily, clenching her fists. Eggman scoffed in laughter once again, taking aim at Cream. Cream yelped and flew over the projectiles, quickly flying back over to Amy and Big. Amy and Big were back to back, spinning around and destroying the creations with their weapons.

"Just how many of these are there?" Amy complained, grunting as she shattered another one.

"There's no end to them!" exclaimed Cream wearily.

Big was in a fierce duel with a much bigger robot, only to be knocked over and surrounded by nine of the same kind. His ears drooped as his enthusiasm quickly disappeared. "There's too many of them!"

"Hmph, not too bad, I must say," Eggman interrupted, telling his robots to halt for the moment. They continued to surround Team Rose, forcing Amy, Cream, and Big to back up into each other. "But if you really want the madness to stop, just hand me the Chaos Emerald, and my grudge against you babies will be waivered!"

"You'll have to pry it from me if you want it!" Amy barked, standing her ground.

Cream gasped upon hearing her friend's words. "Amy, what are you-"

She felt something bump against her wrist. Glancing down, she noticed Amy was trying to hand her the Chaos Emerald. Holding in another almost uncontrollable gasp, she swiped the emerald from Amy just as Eggman swooped down and grabbed the hedgehog by the opposite arm.

"You propose a decent challenge, girl…and I'll have to take you up on that offer!"

"Amy!" Cream and Big shouted, running towards the doctor. Eggman whirled to face them, stopping them in their tracks.

"Come any closer and I'll take the Chaos Emerald _and_ the girl!"

"Please give her back!" Cream pleaded, looking like she was going to cry.

"Enough already!" implored Big.

Their cries went unheard as Eggman lifted Amy closer to him, causing the girl to yelp.

"This is only the beginning of my master plan…and with your help, I'll be able to complete it!"

Amy winced a little as Eggman shook her, the doctor spouting more and more threats the longer the Chaos Emerald refused to show itself.

Cream was torn between obeying Eggman's wishes and staying out of the way, or revealing the Emerald to save Amy, which would end up disappointing Amy regardless. She snapped out her thoughts when Amy flat-out screamed, followed by Eggman voicing his growing frustration.

"Grrr…give me that emerald or I'll make you regret it!"

"Not on my watch!" Sonic cried, bolting onto the scene and charging straight into the Robot Carnival.

"Sonic!" Eggman and Amy shouted, the former releasing the latter.

Sonic did a backflip and caught Amy, followed by running to the left to get farther from the doctor.

"How come Sonic gets the epic entrance?" Knuckles complained, him and Tails arriving on the scene.

"Well, he _was_ the only one that seemed to know what was going on…"

Sonic set Amy on the ground and turned to face the doctor.

"Sheesh, abusing little girls? You've hit a new low, Egghead!"

"They simply have something I want," Eggman replied, and Sonic noticed Cream whimper out of the corner of his eye. "I was just taking it from them because they have no use for it!"

He fired a missile out of his Egg Pod, aimed at Amy, who was still stunned that Sonic had come back. Noticing that, Sonic tackled her to the ground, the projectile just barely floating over them.

"Do I _really_ need to ask why you were hunting down Eggman?" Sonic asked, sounding a bit annoyed.

"I just wanted to find you, Sonic," Amy said hoarsely, trembling a bit.

"Well, you-"

"Especially after you said you hated me and would rather jump off a skyscraper than marry me!"

"Okay, the jumping off a skyscraper part is definitely true," Sonic said quickly. "But I never said I hated you. I just said there is no way I'm marrying you."

"Aw, how sweet. Can we beat up Eggman now?" Knuckles questioned impatiently.

Sonic flipped to his feet, taking on a battle stance. Eggman, slightly upset that his missile had missed, took his anger out on his nemesis.

"This brings back a few memories, doesn't it, Sonic," he said with a smirk, noting to how he was defending Amy.

"If you mean all those memories of me kicking your butt, then definitely! It's quite a hard thing to forget."

Eggman looked unamused until he shouted, "SMASH THEM!"

Another herd of robots, this group much bigger than anything Team Rose had encountered. Big nudged Cream and pointed.

"I told you."

"Amy, you've got to get out of here!" Sonic hissed under his breath.

"But, Sonic-"

"Amy, please! Just go…for me?"

Amy stood back up and fell silent. She wanted to help Sonic, but also wanted to follow his wishes. She slowly backed away from the battle field, eventually turning around and breaking out into a full sprint. Cream and Big looked back one last time before following after her.

Sonic let out a sigh of relief as Tails and Knuckles skidded next to him, replacing the presence of the team that had just taken their exit. Eggman was a bit miffed that they had allowed the Chaos Emerald he wanted to get away, but watching them get demolished by his robots would suffice as well.

"Mwahahaha…why not have some fun while you can? After all, you only have two days and we know who's going to win!"

"Yeah- us!" Tails shouted, taking to the skies. "You're going down, Eggman!"

"Besides, if Team Rose could take out a mass of your robots, they'll be_ nothing_ to us!" chuckled Knuckles, thrusting out his fists and plowing them into any machine in his path.

"Don't get too excited, boys! Those were the easy ones!" Eggman chortled, flying away from the battle field and far away from their reach. Sonic scowled to himself until he heard metallic thumping, and turned to see two huge soldier robots and three Flappers that were spewing electricity everywhere. Sonic then smirked and curled into a ball.

"Well, I'm glad he saved the big guns for us! That was nice of him!"

Sonic threw himself at the soldier robot towering behind him, crashing straight into its torso and knocking it over. Knuckles followed this by running by it, causing the Flapper that was following him to give the soldier the shock of its life. Tails then grabbed Sonic and Knuckles and performed a nasty Thunder Shock, overloading the robot and blowing it to bits.

"Come on, Eggman! How come you don't wanna play?" Sonic mocked, jumping on the second Flapper and tearing its wings off.

"Be careful, Sonic," Tails warned. Knuckles rolled his eyes, grabbed Tails, and hurled him at the second soldier.

"I can take of them myself!"

"Yeah, do that without throwing me at solid metal," Tails grumbled, rubbing his forehead.

Knuckles simply shrugged and proceeded to finish off the soldier while Sonic jumped to the final Flapper. He latched onto its back and steered it into the wall of the nearest building, flipping off just before it exploded. He landed beside Tails and Knuckles, ready for the next wave of foes.

"Looks like there's another bunch of 'em," Sonic declared as the new brigade materialized on the scene. "Come and get some!"

Tails instantly kicked one in the head, defeating it in one blow. "We won't give up so easily, Eggman!"

"They're everywhere!" Knuckles yelped, ducking under a Flapper as it performed a nosedive.

"Hmph, not for long!" Sonic exclaimed, snapping his fingers.

Tails grabbed Sonic, and Knuckles grabbed Tails. The echidna used the full extent of his strength to spin them around, eventually releasing Tails' ankles and sending them flying. Tails let go of Sonic, performed a flip, and kicked Sonic, giving the hedgehog tons of momentum as he curled into a dangerous wrecking ball.

"Blast away!"

Knuckles and Tails hit the floor as Sonic ricocheted over their heads, blasting into every robot on the field. Even Eggman, who was hovering a safe distance away, was slightly quaking at the destructive power Sonic possessed.

Although he had been on the wrong end of it several times…

Sonic alighted stylishly back on the ground, leaving explosions and robot scraps in his wake.

"I've got no time to waste on these pests!"

Knuckles nodded. "What a waste indeed."

"But I spent so long working on them!" Eggman protested, mashing his fists on his dashboard.

"Making robots is the same as breaking them!" Tails retorted, though no one was going to tell him that made little sense.

"What's the matter? Got nothing left?" scoffed Sonic, turning heel and beginning to walk away.

"Yeah, keep 'em coming!" Tails cheered, pumping his fists.

Knuckles stretched his limbs and flashed his teeth. "That was just a warm up for me!"

"Then a warm up is all you'll get!"

Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles snapped their heads to the voice, which didn't belong to Eggman, but belonged to none other than Vector, followed by Espio and Charmy.

"Hey, Chaotix," Knuckles smirked. "Long time no see."

"No see indeed," Espio replied. "Probably because we've been squatting in the equivalent of a shed we can't even pay for."

"It has something to do with jobs we can't seem to find," Vector added, glancing at Sonic. Sonic noticed the look and blinked.

"Aren't you detectives? Don't you get mysteries to solve or something?"

"Not when _you're_ the one solving them all the time!"

Sonic looked thoughtful for a few moments before scratching the back of his head. "Er…sorry, I guess. I never really realized that I was-"

"It's fine!" Charmy chirped, practically shaking. "It's just cool to meet you! You're so awesome, Sonic!"

"Charmy!" Vector grunted, pulling the bee out of the air. Espio shook his head and walked up to Team Sonic.

"Look, we're sorry to interrupt, but our first client in months has ordered us to fight Eggman, so if you wouldn't mind…"

"WHAT?" Eggman suddenly howled, catching both teams off guard. "Who is this "client" of yours?"

"Beats us," Charmy blurted out. "We're getting paid handsomely, so-"

Vector and Espio clamped their hands on Charmy's mouth, but Eggman didn't seem to care. He almost seemed lost in thought…

Sonic glanced from him to the Chaotix, and back again, thinking deeply. He motioned for Tails and Knuckles to follow him as he quickly sprinted away.

"You're really going to leave the fate of Eggman up to the Chaotix?" gawked Knuckles.

"I have to agree, they aren't the most…efficient people," Tails explained nervously. Sonic just shrugged.

"Hey, I probably have been taking away their potential clientele with my good deeds over the months…besides, whether they take care of Eggman or not, he's going to strike again, since there's still two days for us to get to where we need to go…maybe this'll help us get a head start."

"Huh, for you, that's awfully logical," Knuckles pointed out. Sonic smiled.

"I have my moments. Now let's juice!"

So Team Sonic bolted away, with only Vector hearing and hanging on every word they have exchanged. As much as he wanted to rant out his opinion on what _he_ thought, he knew that Eggman had to come first.

"Doctor Eggman…" Vector growled in a hateful tone. Eggman murmured something as he spun his machine to face them instead.

"You've made quite a mess of it here, first with messing with my army and now this," the doctor grumbled just as unpleasantly back. "I'll accept your apologies and payment with your lives!"

"Want some…come and get it!"

"On guard!" Espio called.

"Guard on!" squealed Charmy, receiving a look from Espio. Eggman raised an eyebrow, apparently entertained.

"We'll hold nothing back since you are our client's enemy!" Espio shouted, taking action and running at the doctor. Eggman, hiding a smirk, simply snapped his fingers and summoned up a wall of robots to protect him. Espio skidded to a stop and jerked to the left, avoiding the sudden onslaught of projectiles.

"Hmm hmm hmm…I suppose you could say that," Eggman chortled, slowly edging his machine away from the arena. Espio's eyes grew as he threw ninja stars at the nearest clunker.

"You know who our client is? !"

Eggman chuckled again, this time not holding back. "I think I've got a pretty good idea."

Charmy, meanwhile, was tag teamed with Vector, having the crocodile throw him at the bots and ricochet off of them. He left smoking scrap in his wake, giving him perfect motivation to cheer his little lungs out.

"We're here to beat up bad guys!"

"Get ready," Vector began, taking a deep breath as Charmy jumped on his back. "'Cause here we come! RAARGH!"

Vector started spewing fire, forcing all the robots to flinch as they suffered fire damage. Espio leapt in, completely invisible, and promptly punched them all out.

"It helps that Eggman never makes these things fireproof," the chameleon mused to himself, smirking as the exposed contraptions burst into flames. Eggman scowled as another fleet of his robots was crushed by meddling heroes. He silently sent out another wave, this one containing many small robots surrounding one large robot.

The Chaotix didn't falter, Espio once again the first to leap. He calculated his attack carefully, jumping and aiming his ninja boot directly at the head of the robot. He was just about to make contact when the robot reached up and grabbed Espio's leg.

"What in the-"

The next thing Espio knew, he was being hurled across the battle arena, only to be saved at the last moment by Charmy flying in and scooping him out of the air.

"We could possibly be outmatched," Espio stated, staring back at the robots with a hint of uneasiness.

"Nonsense!" Vector protested, whipping out his microphone and dancing around with it. "They just need to feel the music!"

"…only as long as you never use that phrase again," huffed Espio, pulling out his own instrument. "Doo doo…"

"Bee bee bee! Charmy Bee!"

"Yeah, YEEEEAAAH!"

The robots, even the large one, were forced to stall as the unbearable noise permeated the air around them. Several robots began to short circuit while some simply self-destructed to escape the sound. Eggman himself felt like he was going to explode from the recital, so he made a tactical retreat and decided to leave the teams alone for the time being.

Once the song was over, the Chaotix noticed everything was gone- everything, including Eggman.

"Darn it, he got away…" Charmy said, sniffling a little as he tossed away his drums.

"Aw, look on the Brightside," suggested Vector. "At least the doctor won't be harassing Casino Park anymore."

"His robots are such a disorderly crowd..." Espio trailed, simply waking away from the battle's remains. "Just a waste of our time."

. . .

Eggman was still trying to escape from the park, fretting and fumbling over the fact he lost a Chaos Emerald, was defeated by Sonic once again, and to allow insult to injury, the blasted hedgehog allowed an even_ more_ mediocre team to fight him- and caused him to suffer hearing loss!

However, when Shadow jumped out from nowhere with a gravely serious look on his face, a pleasant smirk crossed the doctor's face.

Perhaps this outing wouldn't be so disappointing after all.

"Doctor!" Rouge cried, running up to them with Omega in tow.

"Tell me, Doctor…" Shadow said calmly, yet forcefully. He walked cautiously toward the doctor, almost apprehensively. "What was I doing…asleep on that base? And what about my memory?"

"Your memory? Hmph, what memory?" Eggman bellowed, even throwing up his hands for emphasis. _"You have no past to remember!"_

A deathly silence crossed the team, and it almost seemed that Rouge was more bewildered than Shadow was.

However, Shadow mirrored her wide-eyed expression, appearing completely taken aback. All he could utter was a very hoarse, "What?"

"No…" Rouge trailed, shakily pulling the inhibitor ring out of her pocket. "It can't be true!"

Her only response was Eggman's deafening laugh, followed by a cascade of robots raining down on them. Shadow was still gob smacked, and Rouge was noticing that he was slowly becoming less and less like himself.

"Doctor, _wait_-"

"It's useless, Shadow," Rouge sighed, clutching the ring before putting it away again. "We have to fight him."

"But…my memories…_me_…who…am I?"

"Numerous targets detected outside the perimeter. Prepare to intercept and attack!"

Omega stepped in front of Shadow and Rouge and began rapidly firing, while Rouge was trying to snap Shadow out of his newly induced trance.

"Shadow…?"

Shadow held no trace of emotion- and at the same time, there was a trace of everything as well. Rouge could see it in his eyes; a rapid flood of emotion was drowning Shadow from the inside out, and she had no idea of how to help him.

"This is no time to be unresponsive," Omega snapped in a robotic fashion, being the only thing standing between Rouge and Shadow and imminent pain.

Rouge sighed deeply and left Shadow, throwing herself into the brawl alongside Omega. Her leg kicked through the strong metal, she wove her way through the onslaught of bullets, and at one point she punched right through one.

Eggman knew that if the other teams could trash his army, Team Dark could do the same in record time. He sent in loads more robots, some small, some large, some that could fly, and some that were his very own Egg Pawns, complete with long swords and Eggman-esque faces.

Omega was finding himself outnumbered quite quickly, and Rouge was becoming outmatched. Flappers swooped over her head while Egg Pawns continually tried to impale her with their weapons. She spun around, leg outstretched, to clear some of the clunkers out, but they seemed to never end!

Rouge backed up against Omega, as if that was going to keep her safe for even a few moments longer. But if _Omega_ couldn't keep up with the sheer numbers, then something was clearly wrong. Rouge, in one last desperate ditch attempt, glanced over her shoulder and gave a pleading look to Shadow.

However, he was not where she left him.

"What the-"

To answer her question before she asked, Rouge spotted the Black Blur whizzing around the arena, aimed right for the plethora of robots. Rouge and Omega just looked on as Shadow crazily zipped back and forth, taking out two or three robots every time he happened to stop. His fist plowed into robots that stood in his way as he sprinted around, his leg met with the ones that tried to attack, and his quills shredded through the rest of them _regardless_ of what they were doing.

Rouge, Omega, and even Eggman gawked as Shadow single-handedly brought down the troops. Rouge tried jumping in again, but Shadow nearly ran into her as she did so. Gulping, she retreated for the moment, forced to watch the enraged hedgehog rampage on machines.

Eventually, Shadow started to run out of robots to crush, and he was getting pretty sick of seeing their faces, plastered with Eggman's cheesy expression on them. He pulled out his Chaos Emerald and held it high above him, drawing more negative energy than positive. Rouge happened to noticed this and inwardly winced.

"Scanners detect something very bad is about to happen…" Omega trailed, taking a few steps back.

"Yeah, no kidding," gulped Rouge, inching behind Omega even more.

The remaining robots and Eggman would have liked to retreat, as would have probably been the correct choice, but Eggman was curious as to what untapped power Shadow possessed.

As if he didn't know already.

Shadow began to glow red, as Rouge and Omega claimed he had before, slowly losing control of himself. Everyone watching had to shield their eyes as a huge burst of energy emerged from Shadow, engulfing the surrounding robots. The earsplitting sound of several explosions rang out, causing Rouge to press her ears tightly around her head.

"I have no ears and that still manages to upset me," Omega muttered.

"Worthless pieces of junk…" Shadow finally said at last, watching as the smoke cleared out and leaving many scores of robot scrap piles. It was almost a little scary, seeing pieces of machines laying everywhere, smoke flittering about, and an unnerving feeling filling the air.

"A group of sentry robots: destroyed!" announced Omega, feeling it to be necessary.

Shadow glared up at Eggman, making the doctor cringe and back away slightly. He then turned to his teammates, with Omega holding Rouge, and Rouge with her eyes wide and mouth slightly agape.

The hedgehog blinked, taking a double take on what he had just performed. He stared at his hands, then at the massive destruction he had caused.

"Perhaps…it's true…perhaps I _have_ nothing to remember…and I _am_ destructive…"

Needing a moment alone, but not waiting around for any permission, Shadow took off, leaving his team behind. Rouge stepped forward to go after him, but was halted by the sight of Eggman finally taking his leave.

"I believe our time is up," he claimed, ascending into the night sky. "I'll see you again, soon…"

"Eggman, you'll pay for this!" Rouge growled, clenching her fists. "I _know_ you lied…I know you're _lying_…you _have_ to be lying…"

She fell to her knees, feeling very defeated. She had no idea what Eggman had meant- he could have been simply messing with Shadow, or he really_ was_ the one who took away Shadow's memory and was trying to trick him…or he could've been implying something that the team hadn't discovered yet.

Regardless, now Shadow was desperately conflicted, and it was going to take a lot of convincing to pull him back on track again. As Rouge glanced up, gazing at the stars, she knew there was one thing she was going to have to do, even though it was very risky.

"I need to find Sonic…"

* * *

><p><strong>Well, things are certainly heating up now, aren't they?<strong>


	11. Rail Canyon

Because We're Sonic Heroes

Chapter 10: Rail Canyon

Early in the morning, around the dawn of the second day, Team Sonic was making tracks far away from Bingo Highway, craving the head start they wanted against Eggman. It was good that they were already in the next zone, being a canyon, but they would to utilize all the time they were given.

"Tails! How much time is t?" Sonic asked, grinding his way down a rail in the appropriately named Rail Canyon.

"We've got until tomorrow night!" Tails responded.

"Tails! Knuckles! Give it all you got…full speed ahead!"

"Ok!" "Got it!"

The three of them boosted forward, ready to embrace the new day.

. . .

Team Dark was making their way into Rail Canyon as well, with Omega giving them a brief update.

"Eggman energy detected. Ground base up ahead."

"I wonder what the doctor really meant…" Rouge whispered to herself once again. That was all she was able to fret over on their way there, along with how Shadow was going to handle everything.

"We must capture him first. Let's go!" Shadow exclaimed, overhearing Rouge and picking up the pace on the rail he was grinding on. Unlike Rouge, he made it very clear that he did not want to talk about what Eggman had said.

Rouge gave a quick grin in agreement before somewhat solemnly riding after.

. . .

"Hmm…I smell Froggy," Big informed his team.

"Chocola!" chirped Cheese. Cream looked at her pet Chao and smiled.

"Cheese says Chocola is close!"

"All right! Let's go!" Amy exclaimed, jumping on the nearest rail and began grinding. Cream noticed a look of intense focus on her face, one that definitely wasn't there before.

"Wow, Amy," Cream began, daring to comment on her friend's demeanor. "You seem a lot more focused!"

"That's because I am," Amy replied. "I thought I could hold my own against Eggman…but in the end, I couldn't! I'm just lucky Sonic showed up at the last moment…"

"And after all the things he said…" Big trailed. "I knew Sonic wouldn't let us get hurt. After all, he did help me save Froggy the first time!"

"I didn't want to leave, but…I suppose it was for the best." Amy heaved a sigh. "Next time, though, I'm not giving up! That bloated egghead won't get away with treating us all like this! If he think he can push us around again, he is sadly mistaken!"

"Yeah!"

Thus, Team Rose rode their way into the sunrise, entering the deeper parts of Rail Canyon as well…

. . .

"This has gotta be Eggman's base…" Vector decided, his team also making their way down the rails.

"Security is tight around here, so watch your backs," Espio told everyone.

"Just the way we like it."

Charmy pumped his fists into the air. "Cool!"

"Alright, let me take point!" Espio offered, jetting forward and pulling out the communicator. "Okay, client, we're at Rail Station, on our way to Eggman's main place of operations. What's our next mission?"

"Infiltrate the terminal station located in the middle of the base. This is a difficult mission."

"Wait," Charmy began, just as the client's voice died off. "The entire canyon is Eggman's base?"

"Apparently so," Espio replied. "But the doctor can only be at once place at a time, correct?"

"I sure would hope so…" muttered Vector, glancing at the rail as he did so.

. . .

"What a view," Sonic whistled, watching as the shining sun's rays filled the canyon.

"Look at those canyons!" Tails gasped with just as much enthusiasm.

"Keep your eyes on the rails, you two," Knuckles grunted. A simple sunrise wasn't as invigorating to him as it was for the other two, although the ones on his island were rather impresive. "The tales a guy hears about people falling off these things are terrifying…"

"How would you know?" Sonic questioned, jumping from rail to rail several times and flipping around in the process. "You're always up on your island. Alone. With no one to tell you such tales!"

"Hmph. I have my ways…"

"What ways?"

"Heeeey, robots!" Tails interrupted, pointing up ahead to the first platform they'd seen in ages. "Let's break 'em, eh?"

Sonic and Knuckles gave Tails a weird look, but shrugged as they leapt off the rails and landed in fighting positions. There was only three Egg Pawns, but soon they were metallic shards once Sonic and Knuckles took care of them.

"So…" Sonic trailed, dusting his hands off. "How does one get around this place?"

"Well, the only way to even get from one spot to another is via the rails," Tails explained, scratching his ear. "But as to how we're supposed to get to Eggman's base…I suppose we'll have to trust our instincts."

"We'll get lost for sure then," Knuckles groaned, eyeing Sonic already looking anxious. "This guy gets lost in thrills anytime he sees a grind rail, let alone tries to think of the most logical way to reach a mad man's base."

"That's not true," Sonic protested, already headed for the next set of rails. "And I'll prove it!"

"You're not doing a very good job-"

"Can we just go?" Tails grumbled impatiently, tapping his foot like Sonic would. "We're supposed to beat Eggman to his base, but at this rate he'll catch up to us!"

Saying nothing more, Team Sonic continued on.

. . .

Shadow rode the rails like he had done so yesterday, with precision and balance that Rouge and Omega weren't as lucky to possess. Rouge knew why he was so good, considering he had shredded through Sky Rail after a biplane and raced against Sonic himself to the center of the ARK.

"Not that he remembers," Rouge thought to herself, frowning as she did so.

It was an upsetting thought, knowing that Shadow had performed so many admirable feats and was unable to remember them. Stealing a Chaos Emerald from the bank, racing away from cops, blowing up an island, making a daring rescue…

Well, that was all before he became a hero, when he sacrificed his life to save the rest of the world. It was the memory Rouge cherished most of all, even more than how he had saved her own life.

For Shadow's sake, she was determined that his memories would live on through her, and through Sonic, if she could find him. If he never received his memories, then that was going to be the case.

If he had any memories to be returned, that is.

It was killing Rouge that she couldn't figure out what that possibly meant.

. . .

"Wow, we're way up here!"

"I can't look down!"

"I'm getting dizzy…"

Amy rolled her eyes at her team's reactions, but she couldn't say that she wasn't feeling a bit queasy either. None of them have ever ridden a rail for so long, let alone rails with boxes on them.

"That is very dangerous!"

"No kidding, Cream," Amy uttered, leaping from rail to rail and crushing the boxes before anyone crashed into them. Big helped out with his fishing rod, snagging the corners with the hook and flinging the crate off. Cream threw Cheese a few times, but eventually stopped when they ran out of crates to hit.

They then jumped to the left most rails, considering the ones to the right simply cut off. Amy then found herself grinding a loop, and causing Cream to complain her head was spinning.

"Just hang in there, Cream!"

"Waaaaaah…" Big babbled, his eyes rolling around in all directions.

Amy simply facepalmed.

. . .

"So, Vector," Espio began, feeling the need for conversation. They really hadn't said much since they arrived, and in retrospect, he was surprised Charmy wasn't chattering up a storm.

"Yeah, what's on your mind, Espio?"

"That was a pretty invigorating battle with the doctor, was it not?"

"Hmph." Vector rolled his eyes. "It wasn't a battle with the doctor; it was a duel with his crackpot creations…"

"It sure was nice of Sonic to let us finish off Eggman, huh?" Charmy intervened, floating above the rail and karate kicking the air. "He was so cool about it too!"

"He even apologized for stealing our day jobs," Espio pointed out.

"That doesn't mean our rent is suddenly paid off," grumbled Vector. "Now you guys are going to think that he's a hero or something."

"Well he _is_," scoffed Charmy, like it was basic knowledge. "He fights giant robots, destroyed a giant Death Egg, like, three times, and brought down a God of pure destruction with nothing but power enriched by the heart! How can you _not_ call that a hero?"

"Not to mention he cheated death against unfavorable odds, destroyed a prototype of the Ultimate Lifeform, and defeated a robotic copy of himself," Espio added with a shrug.

"We could've done all that easily," Vector huffed, causing Espio to roll his eyes. "Just another example of how he's stealing jobs from us."

"I'm pretty sure he didn't get paid for any of that," Charmy pointed out. "Most the time, he does it either for fun or because no one else will or is able to rise to challenge."

"You act like he was robbing jobs from us on purpose, Vector," Espio sighed. "The only crime he's guilty of is having a good heart… perhaps you should follow that path too. Money can't buy you happiness."

"But it _does_ give you a place to live," sobbed Charmy, cuing a facepalm from Espio.

. . .

"Hmph, Tails, did you even sleep last night?" Knuckles asked after Tails' latest snap at him. The three were cruising around the canyon via the rail, given no other choice, and with no direction whatsoever.

"None of us really slept," Sonic pointed out. "Unless we were doing some serious sleep jogging…"

"We were jogging last night?"

"I stand corrected- clearly _Knuckles_ was sleep jogging."

"Sorry," Tails mumbled. "Your bickering is really irritating…"

"We can't help it, buddy," Sonic stated, leaning into his turn. "We're practically opposites! We're bound to fight at some points!"

"And if we weren't so different," Knuckles added, "I think we'd stand each other even less."

Tails actually looked confused. "Huh?"

Sonic swapped rails to fix his balance before he explained. "Can you imagine if I was forced to cooperate with someone as witty, fast, determined, impatient, and as good-looking as me? Yikes!"

"I think I'd go crazy if there was a copy of me," Knuckles chuckled.

"Yeah, they'd be fighting over who gets to guard the pet rock!" snickered Sonic.

"Don't make me come over there and hit you!"

"Keep your eyes on the rails, Knuckles," Sonic said as seriously as he could, though he was dying to burst out in laughter.

"Take your own advice, then."

"Be careful not to fall!"

"ARGH!"

Tails watched as the duo suddenly started scooting along the rails faster than before, but this time, Tails didn't yell.

He just smiled.

. . .

"This is quite an engineering feat," Shadow noticed, referring to the crisscrossing rails.

"Yeah, it's amazing…" Rouge agreed, meaning it but hardly paying attention.

"We are heading straight for that terminal," Omega interrupted. He pointed ahead to a large building of sorts with rails jetting in and out of it. Shadow wasted no time in getting over there, bounding from rail to rail and landing stylishly on the ground.

"Hey, there's someone there!" Rouge exclaimed, but was quickly stopped by Shadow.

"It's just a robot, Rouge, and he's got backup."

Rouge muttered something under her breath as Shadow bolted forward, curling up into a ball and tearing his quills through the metal of the robots.

And once Shadow was in battle, Omega wasn't too far behind.

"Annihilate all Eggman robots!" Omega boomed, firing all weapons and sending projectiles in all directions. Rouge ducked as a missile whizzed by her ear, just missing taking her head off.

"Watch it, Omega! Ugh…"

To distract herself, she decided to fight a robot that Shadow and Omega hadn't mercilessly destroyed yet. Rouge gracefully alighted in front of it, followed by kicking out her leg and swinging it. The Egg Pawn hardly knew what hit him.

Rouge turned to see if the boys were done, and sure enough, they were.

And they were also gone.

"…do I need to put a leash on them or something? !"

. . .

"Everyone watch out ahead!" Cream shouted, seeing an oncoming train. Amy let out a shriek and followed Cream to a safer rail, which Big was already riding.

"That was too close," Big commented.

"Hmph! We were never in any danger," protested Amy, jumped off the rail and landing at a small station. Seven robots suddenly jumped out of nowhere, Amy nearly running right into one. "…okay, now we're in danger."

Big rushed up and reeled one in, followed by grabbing it and punching in several times. Amy tossed her hammer into the air, caught in, then took out three robots with one swing. Angrily, she hammered the remains, just to make sure they were out of commission.

"Leave it to me!" Cream suddenly exclaimed, eyeing the robot brigade calling in more reinforcements. Amy and Big dropped what they were doing and ran up to Cream, followed by taking on flight formation.

"Thunder Shoot!"

Amy and Big shot forward, sparking with electricity after Cream had hurled them. Amy bowled into two while Big knocked down three, leaving them in an electric wake. Cream then tossed Cheese, who ricocheted between the still standing androids. The little Chao packed quite a punch with Cream's decent throwing, and with extra help from Big and Amy, the robots had all been felled.

. . .

"This certainly is quite a base," Espio stated, the Chaotix rail grinding around a cliff once again.

"It's awesome!" cheered Charmy. "Eggman sure knows how to build a fun place!"

"Charmy, it's not fun. All these rails make it not only harder, but much more dangerous to even get to Eggman's main base of operations."

"Well, he certainly spared no expense here," uttered Vector afterwards. Espio glanced back and gave him a look.

"Hey, we agreed on no more money talk unless it's important!"

"I wasn't referring to _our_ money!"

"Where DOES Eggman get all that funding?" Charmy pondered. "Hmmm…oh well- I'm just having fun! Whee!"

Charmy gained speed, soaring down the rails without a care in the world. Espio followed closely after him, less carelessly, but at high speeds all the same.

Vector, meanwhile, was contemplating their client. Where, exactly, was he always calling from? How did he always know where they were or what was going on…besides the fact that Espio usually informed him, but there were a few exceptions…

And how was his team supposed to know that their client wasn't actually a _girl? !_

…scratching that last thought, Vector recalled the last battle against Eggman from the night before. He had said that he had a pretty good idea of whom their client was, which was extra bewildering, considering the Chaotix hardly had a clue themselves!

"All the more reason to find the doctor," Vector declared, clenching his fist as he did so.

And if they were lucky, they'd get there before the fastest thing alive...and his friends.

. . .

"The rail…!" Tails shrieked, watching as the rail ahead of them vanished.

"They're pulling out all the tricks," nodded Knuckles, bracing himself.

"If we fall, you guys are gonna catch me…right?" Sonic asked, glancing at the dead end.

He didn't receive an answer, but he did notice the rails suddenly shift to connect to another set of rails. He glanced at Tails, who had accidentally hit a button.

"Hey…I guess we can control where we go after all," he laughed nervously.

"Now if we only knew what direction we're supposed to be going," sighed Knuckles.

"I say just go where the rails take us," said Sonic, spreading out his arms as the rails took a dive.

They led the team back up, tossing them through rainbow loops and landing on another set of rails.

Besides the fact they were supposed to be hurrying to Eggman's base, Tails didn't mind all the rail grinding. He was nowhere as good as Sonic when it came to grinding, so he supposed it was a great time as any to get in some practice.

Knuckles, on the other hand, wasn't as fond of the sport as the rest of the team. For one, it was too fast for him. Second, he didn't like how unpredictable they were. And third…simply put, they just weren't his thing.

Then, there was Sonic.

He was currently in his element- or as close to his element as he could get, since there wasn't a lot of places to run in a rail-invested canyon. Riding the rails gave him just as much of a taste of adrenaline as running at top speeds did, yet it had its differences.

Sonic grinned as the wind whistled through his quills, trying to push against him as he fought to go faster. If ever, for any reason, he lost his ability run…well, he wouldn't mind grinding everywhere instead.

If he _really_ had no choice.

. . .

Rouge eventually caught up with Shadow and Omega, Omega apologizing because they thought she was already with them.

"Wow, Omega, you actually apologized," Rouge stated, impressed. "Anything _you_ feel like saying, Shadow?"

"Yeah, the rail ahead of us is out."

Rouge leaned out to see beyond Omega, and sure enough, Shadow was right.

"ACK! Why are we riding it then? !"

"No worries," Shadow said calmly, leaping off the edge. "Just watch this."

He jumped through a nearby rainbow loop, spinning through it and even daring to strike a pose. Rouge and Omega were forced to leap down after him, spiraling through the rainbow loops as well. Rouge could simply fly to safety, but _just_ in case Shadow turned out to be crazy and pretty much performed an act of suicide-

Shadow landed on rail below, taking Rouge by surprise. Neither she nor Omega had noticed the rail, considering it was so far down. Rouge grabbed Omega and rocketed downwards, also landing on the rail. She gave Omega a small push before jumping on it herself. Shadow was just ahead of her, so she sped up and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hm?"

"How'd you know it was there?" Rouge asked, the question beginning to bug her.

"I didn't."

Before Rouge could ask another question, Shadow blasted forward, not saying another word.

. . .

Team Sonic was enjoying another moment of peace, meaning that something disruptive would be riding up on them at any given moment. And that…_might've_ been more literal than intended.

"What's up with those big trains?" Sonic wondered, feeling the rails begin to vibrate as two large red trains rocketed by them. They had black accents and large horns sticking out of the sides, which wasn't a very inviting sight.

"They're coming really close…" Tails gulped, turning away as a third train whizzed by. "There might be more coming!"

"Get into flight formation," Knuckles ordered. "That way, we'll cover less ground and have less of a chance of getting hit."

"We're not going to get hit," Sonic scoffed, staying where he was.

Seconds later, a fourth train speed down the rail Sonic was riding. Glancing over his shoulder, Sonic yelped and jumped up, cuing Tails to grab his wrists and pull him out of the way. Knuckles snickered as he grabbed Sonic's heels.

"You were saying?"

"…did I mention how nice that sunrise was?"

"Yes, Sonic. Yes you did."

. . .

"Mmm, Omega…" Rouge trailed in a bored tone, resting on the robot's shoulders.

"You really shouldn't sit on me while I'm trying to balance. It's already hard enough."

"Sorry," Rouge muttered, starting to move. However, Omega stopped her.

"Wait a minute. Sensors indicate something is bothering you internally."

"Thanks for picking up on it," Rouge grumbled, plopping back into her previous position.

"So what may it be? Unless…it's Shadow, like it always seems to be."

"What am I supposed to say to him? That he _does_ have memories and the fact that Eggman said he _didn't_ proves there's something very wrong?"

"How do you _know_ he has memories? Perhaps the doctor-"

"I know he _had_ them," Rouge interrupted, taking on a tone sharper than intended. "I know…because_ I'm_ in there somewhere."

Omega was silent for a moment- Rouge figured he was literally processing the information.

"So…you knew Shadow? Before all of this?"

"Don't tell him," Rouge whispered, as if Shadow would run up and hear. "I didn't tell him before because he probably wouldn't believe me, and I didn't think Eggman would lie about his memories…or tell the truth about what he did to them, or_ whatever_!"

"You are going to inform him eventually, yes?"

"I'd like to, but what if it's for nothing? What if he really has nothing to remember? What if…" she paused, almost choking on her words. "What if that's not even the Shadow I knew?"

She looked ahead at Shadow, grinding ahead of them and unaware of the conversation going on behind his back, in more ways than one.

"This decision is not up to me," Omega replied, jumping off the rail and onto a platform. "This is something you must decide, and you must be ready to pay the consequences."

"I know," Rouge stated, flying off Omega. "Just…not yet. There's still one thing I want to try before I tell him, if at all…"

She just wished she would get the chance.

. . .

After nearly being flattened, impaled, and/or knocked off the rails by a train, Sonic was ready to possibly listen to Knuckles a little more. But just a little.

Right now, however, was not one of those times.

"I say we race them this time," Sonic protested, leaping from rail to rail and avoiding the things Tails identified as armored trains. They were smaller, rounder, and grayer in appearance than the previous trains, so Sonic figured he'd have some fun this time.

"Fine," grunted Knuckles, raising his hands to allow Tails to carry him. "But when you get rammed by a train, don't say I didn't warn you!"

Sonic simply smirked and sped up. A dozen railroad signs covered the tracks, some trying to hinder him, but Sonic just blasted through, leaving shards of wood in his wake. On the rails, he wasn't quite as fast as the trains, which upset him a little bit.

"Too bad I don't have a way of giving myself a boost," Sonic pondered, flipping to the rail to his right. "I could cruise by these slow-poke trains no problem!"

He was so lost in thought that he didn't notice the rail suddenly give out, and all the trains he was racing suddenly veered away from him.

"Ha! They_ knew_ they couldn't take me!"

It only took Sonic a few seconds to realize there was nothing under his feet, hence the reason why the trains couldn't follow him. He glanced down, plummeting to his presumed doomed afterwards.

"Augh! NO!"

Sonic cringed and closed his eyes, expecting a long, long fall until he felt the bottom of the canyon- but since it was sure to kill him, would he even feel it at all?

"_Wow,"_ Sonic thought moments later, after he noticed he stopped falling. _"Hitting the ground feels like flying…"_

He dared to open his eyes, just to check if he was an angel now or something. He quickly found out that he was _not_ dead, and that he never hit the ground.

However, he initially found it strange that he was floating.

"The answer to your question…" Knuckles trailed, holding Sonic's right arm.

"…is apparently yes," Tails finished, clinging tightly to Sonic's left.

. . .

Team Rose was back to riding the rails, taking on all the twists and turns it had to offer. They were riding smoothly until the rails began to vibrate. Amy glanced around, noticing more trains on the rails surrounding them.

"More trains are coming!" Big announced nervously. Amy just waved it off.

"We'll be fine, as long as we keep moving! Don't worry about them!"

They rounded the corner, still being pursued by the threatening trains. Cream winced as the rushing train flew past her, nearly blowing her right off the rail. She turned to Amy, suggesting that they do something about the train, but Amy held her stance, staring straight ahead and focusing on getting to the other side.

. . .

"What an ugly train," Rouge commented, recoiling in disgust at the color scheme. The train chugged on by, as if it was ignoring Rouge and her insult.

"Does it matter what it looks like? Just avoid it so you don't get rammed over," Shadow huffed, walking by her without a care for the train. Rouge folded her arms and scoffed.

"I can't even get in my opinion? Hmph."

"Have you thought about what he's thinking?" Omega asked, walking up from behind her.

"Well, I've been thinking about him the entire time, as you know _now_," Rouge replied, beginning to lean on a post. "But his thoughts? No, not really. They're probably too "Ultimate" for me."

"Compute what he must be thinking after being told such discouraging information."

"I dunno- he's like Knuckles! A brick wall, putting you on one side and his feelings on the other. You'd literally have to break him to get through!"

"Erm…Knuckles?"

Rouge whirled away from Omega, hiding the blush that just appeared on her face. "Um, no one. Just a guy I knew back in day, ha ha…"

"He can't be no one if you knew him-"

"…hey, Shadow's getting away! We'd better follow him before we lose him again!"

Rouge spread her wings and flew after Shadow, leaving Omega very confused.

It just didn't compute.

. . .

Team Sonic spiraled through most of rail canyon, turning and racing loops without a care. Sonic was oddly quiet, though it didn't surprise Tails and Knuckles much, since the drop must've caused his heart to skip a beat or something.

Finally, they reached a place that wasn't completely rail-crazy, so they stopped there to take a well-deserved break.

"Look out for that train," Sonic said, shifting a little to the left. "It could pull out at any moment…"

Yes, the train was idle, but smoke and even _fire_ was flaring out from it, meaning than it was raring to go anytime it was ready.

"How are we supposed to go forward if that red train is in the way?" Knuckles complained, punching the exterior.

"We could fly over these fences," Tails suggested, walking over to a tall yellow fence. "It looks like we can get around the train if it doesn't move."

"Sound like a plan," agreed Sonic, jumping up. Tails grabbed him from above, and Knuckles gripped him from below. The two-tailed fox then spun his namesakes and ascended, lifting the two teenagers over the fences. Once they were on the other side, Tails released them both. Sonic, back on his feet, walked around the area the train was blocking, only to find a large fan.

"That fan is blowing a gust upwards…" he said, slowly grinning. "Knuckles, it's Triangle Dive time!"

"Right!"

The team joined hands on the fan, the upward gust bringing them to a higher area of the canyon. The trio landed gracefully, almost as if the gust had planned it so.

. . .

"You two going to stay close to me this time?" Shadow asked, noticing the retuning presence of Rouge and Omega.

"Sorry, we were just trying to catch a train," Rouge replied sarcastically, riding alongside him. Shadow raised an eyebrow, turning his position so he was grinding backward. An odd smirk crossed his face, and it slightly unnerved the albino bat.

"Hm, I thought_ I_ was supposed to be the snappy one."

"You're_ not_ snappy- you'd rather say nothing at all, honestly," Rouge replied. Shadow's smirk vanished instantly.

"What's up with you? If anyone's supposed to be mad, it's me," Shadow jumped once again, spinning back around. "You don't see _me_ growling though. I know there's nothing I can do about...my current situation unless I get my hands on Eggman and make him tell me_ everything_."

"Well, maybe I'm mad at Eggman too!" Rouge blurted, speeding up. "I just want to make him pay for what he's doing, and for what he's done…"

"A normal response…But there no use in wasting your energy. Save it until you need it, then unleash all your power!"

Rouge was silent.

"He won't get away with anything. I'll make sure of it, personally."

. . .

"The rail's gone, the rail's gone!" Cream panicked.

"Flight formation, quick!" Amy demanded, getting ready. When the end of the rail arrived, Amy jumped, grabbing onto Cream, as she was already in the air. Amy then felt Big grab her legs, which cued Cream to take off. However, the only place to land was far below them, and if she descended too fast, she'd lose control, since she was carrying a lot.

"I'll do my best…"

Cream lowered the team down slowly, making sure not to go too fast. Eventually, she came close to the single rail that was waiting for them. Once Big was balanced on the rail he pushed forward, the three of them all moving at the same time.

"Be careful, Big! We wouldn't want to fall," Cream said with caution.

"Man, why is everyone so afraid of falling?" Amy grunted. "We're totally fine!"

"Uh…maybe not…"

Amy glanced down and shot a look at Big. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well, there's a train on the rail we're riding and there's no other rails to jump on-"

"Look out!" screamed Cream, panicking once again.

"Stop worrying! We're going to make it!" Amy assured,noticing that the train was still at one of the small stations. Plus, there was plenty of room for them to walk on... "Don't do anything until I say jump, okay? Then jump to the sides!"

"Amy- ? !"

"Just trust me, okay?"

Cream and Big both frowned, but eventually nodded. Amy watched as the train roared to life, but she caught the one thing Big and Cream hadn't.

That train wasn't moving…_yet_.

If they could get to solid ground before the train pulled out of the station, they'd be fine. It was all about timing, and Amy knew it.

They neared the station, the train seeming to glare at them as they went closer and closer. Once they were right in the station, Amy shouted the magic word.

Big let go of Amy, rolling on the ground and landing on the left. Cream released Amy, flying to the right.

Amy was dropped smacked dab in front of the train, watching as the fire around it began to glow brighter. She scurried to get out of the way as it began to move, but there was no need to- Big had cast his line, snagged Amy, and pulled her out of the way just in time.

"Nothing to worry about, right?" Big asked, a smile evident on his face. Amy, panting from the experience, managed a smile as well.

"That's right, Big." She stood up, helping Big off the ground. "It looks like we're going to be just fine!"

. . .

Team Chaotix was casually grinding down the rails, each lost in their own thoughts.

At least, they all were, until Espio picked up on something.

"Slow down!" he shouted abruptly, the urgency so sharp Vector swore he could feel it. He and Charmy quickly began to let up on the speed, slowing down just enough to miss being blown up by a bomb a robot dropped just a few feet away. The rails ahead of them were decimated, leaving the group grinding to a dead end.

"I knew they'd destroy the rail…" Espio trailed, sounding somewhat dejected. Vector just growled in response.

"They must be getting really desperate…"

"Anyone else worrying about the fact that we're about to fall…or is that just me?" Charmy interrupted, suddenly getting the rest of the team's attention. Vector and Espio stared horrifically at the oncoming dead end until Charmy swooped over them, snagging their wrists and carrying them to safety.

"Yeah, no worries, I guess_ I'll_ just have to take the lead or _something_…"

"I was _going_ to suggest that," Vector replied hurriedly. "Good to see you're taking initiative!"

Charmy didn't let go of Vector and Espio until they were safely above a small station…then dropped them abruptly and went to stare at a train passing by. The duo painfully picked themselves up, then looked around.

"Hmm, pretty empty for a station…" Espio hummed, even inspecting the way the place was put together.

"At least we can eliminate the obvious and say that it isn't Eggman's," Vector replied cheekily, receiving an unentertained look in return. "Erm…on a more serious note, where do we go from here?"

"What're your exact coordinates?" the client's voice suddenly rang out, causing all three members of the Chaotix to scream in surprise. Espio hastily whipped the communicator out of his pocket and answered it professionally.

"What the heck? !"

"Sorry, sorry. I was just about to ask for an update, but I overheard your situation and apparently got one anyway."

"How convenient!" chirped Charmy.

Espio started looking around, trying to get a definitive description of their location.

"Well…uh…we're at a station, but, as Captain Obvious felt the need to point out, it is not the one we are on our way to."

"It was just a joke," Vector pouted in the background.

The client went silent, as if calculating and pondering to himself. After what seemed like ages, he finally spoke up again.

"Just keep going east from where you are…I believe that if you continued in that direction, you'll locate the base eventually."

"And east is which way at this particular spot…?" trailed Vector.

"Do I look like a compass? You three are supposed to be doing these tests on your own! If you keep begging me for help, then how am I supposed to know that you are useful? !"

The client quickly shut off the communicator, prompting Vector to snatch it away from Espio and shout angrily at it, despite the client not hearing a word of it. Charmy lifted his helmet and scratched his confused head, while Espio had a puzzled look as well.

"If everything we've been doing so far are just tests…" he uttered almost silently. "…then what's the_ true_ mission?"

. . .

"Activating balance servos!"

"…what's a servo?"

"Robot parts, clearly," Shadow input instantly. "That's all I need to know."

Rouge rolled her eyes and mumbled to herself. "I'd have better luck asking Tails…but then I'd get more than I bargained for."

Team Dark was finally reaching the end of the Rail Canyon, and not too soon- all the grinding had almost made them forget just why they were there.

They were supposed to be finding the entrance to Eggman's base.

"It's gotta be close! We've been here all morning!" Rouge exclaimed.

The latest set of rails ended, taking the team to a platform filled with robots. Shadow, naturally, sprang into action.

"Here they come!"

"Omega! Do your thing and attack them!" Rouge ordered, flittering about in the air.

"Eggman's robots must be eliminated!" Omega roared, grabbing Shadow and Rouge and hurling them at his targets. The Egg Pawn exploded instantly, Shadow kicking the remains while Rouge was rubbing her head.

"I will never get used to that."

Once the machines were taken care of, the team now had access to a large fan that was blowing upwards. Omega held out his arms for Shadow and Rouge to take. The hedgehog and bat grabbed hold of the robot, letting to gust carry them upward via Triangle Dive.

"Hmph, that was simple," Shadow stated, being the first to let go and land on his feet.

"Could've had less of a rough landing," Rouge shrugged, flying down next to him. They both turned to Omega, who eyes were glowing green and was beeping like he was downloading something.

"Sensors indicate next area of interest- Eggman's base is in the direction of Bullet Station. If we are lucky, the doctor shall be hiding out there."

"Then let's not waste any time," Shadow declared, bounding off without a second thought. Omega and Rouge exchanged a glance.

"I always processed that _I_ was anxious to annihilate Eggman," Omega stated blankly. Rouge just shrugged.

"At this rate I find it hard to believe that Shadow and I once worked with Eggman!"

She smiled, but all she received in return was a cold, intent stare from Omega.

"You have a lot to explain to me."

. . .

"Okay," Tails panted, looking worn out. "We've outrun several trains, had at least two or three near death experiences, and rode rails most the time…"

"I think it's time we get going, since we're practically on the other side of the canyon," said Knuckles. He was currently leaning on a pole, looking out into the distance. "Eggman's base can't be too far now…"

"You're right," Tails realized, putting his hand over his eyes. "The only thing I can see though is a giant terminal of sorts…"

"That's _probably_ worth checking out then…"

"Well…" Sonic began, slightly shrugging his shoulders. "No time to waste here! Let's go!"

Once again, Sonic grabbed the wrists of his two closest friends and took off, not missing out on another second of their adventure.

* * *

><p><strong>This particular level was pretty repetitive, so I improvised... :P<strong>


	12. Bullet Station

Because We're Sonic Heroes

Chapter 11: Bullet Station

"Well, at least we can say now it's starting to finally look like a base," Shadow commented, grinding around a cliff as more structures came into view, rather than just rails and platforms.

"Prepare to infiltrate!" boomed Omega. Rouge just sighed and shook her head.

"Here we go…"

Finally nearing the center of Rail Canyon, Team Dark entered the area known as Bullet Station. They were more than ready to hunt down the doctor, interrogate him to death…then blow up his bases and steal his loot afterwards.

And the first thing they spotted when they landed on a platform was a giant cannon turret. Omega whistled.

"I thought I had big guns."

"That's not even really a gun, so to speak," gaped Rouge.

"Who cares what it is?" Shadow snapped, curling into a ball and throwing himself into a trio of robots. "If it doesn't have anything to do with us, then just don't bother…"

. . .

"It's getting pretty creepy around here…" Tails trailed, riding the rails alongside Sonic and Knuckles.

"It's because we're getting closer to the center," Sonic stated intelligently.

"I guess we're heading in the right direction then," replied Knuckles.

The three of them flew off their grind rails, landing on a platform.

…all except Sonic, who landed on a robot and lost several rings. Knuckles snickered to himself as Sonic skidded along the ground, not liking that at all.

"Hmph, what gives?" Sonic snarled, his quills sharpening by instinct. He curled up into ball form and struck the robot at the center, shattering it into pieces on the spot. Tails had to shield himself from the spontaneously flying debris.

"Heh heh, you gotta admit, the look on your face was pretty priceless," chortled Knuckles as Sonic uncurled and alighted in a frustrated pose.

"A shame that I was unable to see myself then."

"How would he be able to see his own face to begin with…?" pondered Tails, following the blue blur as he bolted off.

. . .

"Sure looks dangerous…" Cream practically trembled, watching the blend of colors fly past them as she and Team Rose descended into Bullet Station.

Big nodded, agreeing in the same tone. "Look at all those cannons…"

"Let's see what they've got!" Amy said proudly. She leapt off the rail, whipped out her hammer, and charged into the station.

"I'd assume they've got bullets, you know, being Bullet Station and all…"

"Not now, Big."

. . .

"So, what's our next mission?" Charmy asked, being the one to control the walkie talkie for once.

"Capsules developed by Eggman are located throughout this base. Destroy at least thirty of them!"

"…well, that was brief!"

As Charmy hung up, Espio suddenly glanced away.

"I wonder what those capsules contain if our client wants us to destroy them…"

"Probably a bunch of weapons or robot parts," Vector dismissed. "Maybe fuel or something. It can't be anything pleasant if Eggman developed it."

"What do these capsules even look like?" wondered Charmy. "We could have at least received a description…"

"I guess we'll know when we see one," Espio stated, starting to run off into the station.

. . .

"…but you looked completely stunned!" Knuckles cackled, hardly able to contain himself.

"Let it go, man!"

Tails had to shake his head- it was like Sonic and Knuckles had swapped bodies or something.

"I told you that you wouldn't like my sense of humor," stated the echidna with a devious grin. "It was almost as funny as all the times you fell into my traps back on Angel Island!"

"I outta-"

"Hey, you guys- not to interrupt your latest pointless debate, but we've got trouble," Tails coughed, jerking his thumb in the direction of a robot squad. Sonic was naturally the first to the fray, circling the group of robots and trapping them in a bright blue tornado.

"Take this!" he shouted, the robots bursting into scrap instantaneously. Knuckles then jumped in, performing several punches on any robots Sonic missed. They all succumbed to Knuckles' might, leaving the echidna pretty proud of himself.

Tails, meanwhile, flew up to another area, finding a boarded up spot on the ground. He tilted his head curiously, knocking his fist against it.

"Well that's peculiar…" he pondered. "I wonder why this place would be boarded up to begin with?"

"Only one way to find out!" Knuckles suddenly exclaimed, gliding up next to Tails.

"Umph! Thanks for the help, guys," Sonic grumbled, struggling to climb up to where they were. "Is it so hard to remember that I'm the only one in this group that can't fly?"

Once Sonic flopped onto the ledge, he crawled over to Knuckles and Tails, just as Knuckles punched through the boarding. The three of them fell in, landing on something that was moving at top speeds.

"A tunnel…?" Knuckles questioned, completely ignoring the fact that Tails' head was stuck in a box and Sonic crashed onto another robot. Sonic quickly proceeded to put it out of commission before Knuckles could say anything.

"I wonder how long this train is," stated Tails, though it was a bit muffled by the box.

"If we stay ahead of the trains, we should be okay," assured Sonic, walking over to assist Tails. The fox's head popped out, Sonic tossing the crate over his shoulder. "There ya go, buddy!"

"Thanks Sonic!"

Sonic just grinned in reply before running down the length of the train. He easily leapt over the boxes (they certainly weren't as hard to get over as ledges), Tails flew over them, and Knuckles punched straight through them.

Eventually, they reached the front of the train, where the engine was pumping at full force to deliver whatever dangerous cargo it was designed to carry. The trio skidded to a stop as Sonic pointed forward.

"We found it! Now, Knuckles, destroy that engine core!"

"Got it!" Knuckles replied, rushing over with one fist extended. Tails' eyes suddenly grew wide with realization and frantically waved his arms.

"Uh, guys! ? Don't you know what will happen if you destroy that engine core-?"

BOOM!

Team Sonic was propelled out of the tunnel by the following explosion, Tails wailing, Knuckles chuckling, and Sonic cheering.

. . .

Team Rose ran on conveyer belts, sprang over fences with the help of springs, and defeated robots within the blink of an eye. They were like a three man army storming through, leaving a wake of victorious destruction in their wake.

At least, that's what Amy liked to think.

"Here comes some more, guys, get ready!" Amy called, brandishing her weapon on the spot. A trio of Flappers and a duo of Egg Pawns ambushed them, forcing Big and Cream to strike action poses. The robots advanced, but Cream acted quicker. Assuming flight formation, Cream performed Thunder Shoot, knocking the Flappers out of the air and sent them crashing into the ground. Big and Amy, after striking the Flappers, uncurled out of ball formation and landed on the ground, holding out their weapons. Amy's hammer smashed one robot in two, while Big's rod snagged another. He yanked his end of the pole, dragging the first Egg Pawn into the second, enforcing an explosion afterwards.

"Did we do all right, Amy?" Big and Cream asked, looking on at the aftermath of their recent battle. Amy grinned, spinning her hammer over her head victoriously.

"We all did great! If we keep this up, the next time we find Eggman, we'll knock his evil genius head clean off!" she trusted her hammer forward dramatically. "Then Sonic will arrive and he'll be so proud of me! And THEN he'll want to marry me!"

Amy excitedly skipped forward, Cream and Big watching as she did so.

"Wow, she certainly has a more positive attitude," Cream noted, smiling.

"I've noticed too- when her mind isn't _completely_ wrapped with thoughts of Sonic, she's pretty focused!" agreed Big.

"I'm just glad that she finally can be herself without dedicating everything she does to Sonic!" Cream clasped her hand together and beamed. "If she was like this all the time, then maybe Sonic would go for her!"

"Yeah!" Big threw his arms in the air. "Makes me kinda super duper happy!"

Cream grinned and scratched the back of her head. "Actually, I think it makes me happy too, Big!"

"Chao Chao!" squealed Cheese, and Cream couldn't help but laugh.

. . .

"This must be the drive for that cannon," Shadow stated, he and his team entering a place with turning gears and smoke filling the air.

"So much for having nothing to do with us," huffed Rouge.

"How was I supposed to know we'd be led right to it?"

"Either way," Rouge continued, grinning and running to the center. "It looks like fun! Let's get in it!"

Shadow shot her an incredulous glare. "You remember the last few times you had us do something "fun"-?"

"Initiate activation!" Omega boomed, thrusting his arm against Shadow as he dragged the hedgehog into the middle with Rouge. The center started to rise, lifting the team into the actual cannon.

"…which way is it facing?" Rouge asked, suddenly concerned.

"Hmph. Should've thought of that before jumping in."

"Grr, Shadow-"

Before Rouge could finish her complaint, the team was fired right out of the cannon, rocketing through the air and weaving conveniently through the canyons. Rouge spread her wings and started to laugh, Shadow just frowned and hoped they'd get where they needed to go, and Omega tried to compute how this was possible.

. . .

The Chaotix eventually came to a very enemy-invested spot, but those enemies were guarding cylinder-shaped containers, which the group suspected were probably the capsules they needed.

"Let's get to work, boys!" Vector declared, popping a piece of gum into his mouth as he entered the fray. The Egg Pawns and other contraptions all surrounded him, looking rather confused than executing a full-on assault. Vector took his sweet time chewing, before grinning and blowing a bubble. The robots all exchanged glances before the bubble popped, trapping them all where they stood and left them immobile.

"Attack!" shouted Charmy, he and Espio jumping out of nowhere and landing on two of the robots. Espio karate chopped one's head off while Charmy let out a battle cry and damaged one with his stinger. They then jumped off to avoid the following detonations and struck fighting poses. One robot began to launch missiles, which Espio jumped up and kicked right back at the clunkers.

"Cool," buzzed Charmy, picking up stray robot parts and hurling them at their foes. Amidst all of Charmy's "attacks", Vector ran into, avoid all projectiles and hitting the robots with a fierce fire. Confused by their sudden burning status, Espio took the chance to fire ninja stars at their torsos. He then vanished into thin air, rushed behind all the robots, and took them out in a single kick.

"All right, Espio!" Vector cheered, flat out punching one of the few remaining robots. He then plucked Charmy right out of the air and hurled him into two more.

"Is that all of them?" Espio asked, spinning into a final robot and leaving it in shambles.

"I think so…" Vector trailed. He then headed toward one of the five capsules in the area, using his honed detective skills to investigate the object. He knocked on it, with only a hollow sound emitting afterwards. "Huh, sounds like there's nothing even in there."

"There's gotta be," declared Espio, rushing over and slamming his foot into it. A large amount of gas seeped out, making a hissing noise as it escaped. However, poking their heads into the hole, Vector and Espio noticed a bunch of sparking wires inside too."

"What in the…?"

"Let's crack open the other ones, carefully this time," Espio suggested.

"Uh…carefully?" Charmy asked, trying to hide the fact that he had already battered the other four to pieces. Espio sighed and routinely smacked his forehead.

"Okay…next capsule we find, we'll open it carefully," Vector muttered nervously.

. . .

"Of all the reckless things you two have done combined-" Tails started to scold, only to be cut off by Sonic.

"Oh, calm down. That wasn't even remotely as terrifying as the time Knuckles tried to pilot that space ship."

Knuckles simply sweat dropped silently in the background. He didn't do anything of interest after that until they came to a fan, which he then assumed Triangle Dive and glided on the upward gust.

"Okay, all recklessness aside, where should we go next?" Sonic glanced down at Tails. "Got an idea, bro?"

"Let's just use some teamwork- that apparently solves everything," scoffed Knuckles, to which Sonic made a face.

Ignoring Knuckles, Tails looked thoughtful, thinking of what would probably be a decent solution.

"Hmmm…well, I bet that train that we- ahem, _you two_ blew up was headed somewhere of importance."

"Well, what direction was it heading in?" asked Knuckles. "I don't even remember where we came from…"

"Surprise there," Sonic snarked, ducking under Knuckles' punch afterward.

"East, if I remember correctly. That combined with Sonic claiming that we're getting closer to the center…" Tails pointed straight ahead. "I say we go that way!"

"Right on, Tails!"

"Hey!" Knuckles complained, watching the yellow and blue blurs dash off. "…_I_ said we were going in the right direction…"

. . .

Big opened his umbrella as Amy and Cream latched onto his arms. The fan they were once standing on carried them upwards, bringing them to a higher part of the station. Once they landed, Amy noticed a giant metal door ahead of them.

"That's…strange…" she trailed, walking over to it. She pushed it open, only to be greeted by loud grinding and the stern whirling of machines. "This must be the internal mechanism of that giant cannon."

"The middle part is where you put in the cannonballs, right?" Cream asked. Amy had almost no idea what Cream was talking about until she glanced to her left. Sure enough, several compartments meant for cannonballs were sitting in the middle of the area.

Out of curiosity, Amy went to the middle of the room and stood there. Cream and Big shrugged and stood next to her, only for the middle mechanism to suddenly shoot up.

"It's moving!" Big wailed.

"It's making me nervous…" trailed Cream.

Unknown to them, the cannon started spinning around, choosing a destination to target. Once a spot was locked onto, the cannon fired, sending the trio to farther reaches of the station.

. . .

"We'd better be going the right way," grumbled Shadow, marching down a wired platform and punching through any robots that happened to get in the way. Rouge walked after him, hands held behind her head.

"Oh, lighten up, we all want to get there as much as you do-"

"Well, now we're getting closer, and I just want to get this over with…"

"Me too," Rouge muttered. "Hard to believe I started out looking for treasure like old times…only to end up paling around with a killer robot and you."

Shadow didn't bother looking over his shoulder. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Rouge opened her mouth to reply sarcastically, but then frowned, bowed her head, and lowered her ears. "I'm sorry…I didn't mean it the way it sounded…"

"I do not believe she did either," threw in Omega. Rouge gave him a small smile and turned back to Shadow, but he had already jogged ahead. She sighed and smacked her forehead with both hands.

"Urgh…I don't know how much more of this I can take!"

"You must act eventually," Omega pointed out, already beginning to head after Shadow. Rouge lowered her hands and clenched them into determined fists.

"I know, I've got a plan…" she assured without another word.

She just knew there was no guarantee it would work.

. . .

Vector, Espio, and Charmy were on a fierce hunt for more capsules, to not only destroy them, but to officially discover the contents. Their client had simply ordered the destruction part of the deal, but being detectives, it was only naturally that they wanted to poke around more.

"Hmm…it was something with a lot of gaseous chemicals in it, and it was mechanical, hence the wiring," Espio deduced.

"Yes, but who's to say the same thing is in every capsule," Vector pointed out.

The trio just shrugged at each other as the search forged on, leading them to a cannon. As always, before any decisions could be reached, Charmy jumped into the cannon, forcing Vector and Espio to join them by default.

"You couldn't have thought this one through, could you?" Espio sighed.

"Well, we had to stop walking in circles eventually," countered the bee, looking a little ridiculous as he folded his arms.

"We weren't going in circles!" Vector protested. "…it was double-checking."

Once the Chaotix landed in a completely different area, Espio leapt to his feet and began scouring around. Eventually, he came across a large stack of boxes, which he quickly brought down. Behind it rested two capsules, and Espio relaxed. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Charmy going in for the charge, but he plucked him out of the air before he could ruin anything.

"Remember, _carefully_," Espio said through gritted teeth. He then turned to Vector and nodded toward one of the capsules. "Open it, Vector."

"What's that supposed to mean? You think I can't open it myself-?"

Ignoring Charmy, Vector leapt onto one of the capsules and wedged his fingers under the lid. Prying with all his strength, the top popped open, effectively flinging Vector onto the ground.

"It's open…"

Espio was next to jump onto the capsule, resting on the edge and peering down into its contents. However, it was too dark to get a clear look, so Espio kicked it over and watched the contents spill out…

…only to be utterly horrified.

"Is that who I think it is?" Charmy asked, flying down and poking at the supposed creature. Espio jumped down and pulled Charmy away before he did something regrettable.

It was a robot, if the loud clang it made when it hit the ground was anything to go by. It was an android, because it greatly resembled a living being…

Though the living being it resembled happened to be Shadow the Hedgehog.

"Why does it look like that black hedgehog that assaulted us yesterday?" Charmy asked. "Unless that IS him!"

"Hard to say," Vector uttered, knocking over the second capsule and revealing another android.

"So…what? Was the Shadow with that group a robot too?"

"Also hard to say," Espio injected. "When I fought him, he seemed real enough, but perhaps that's because he's the doctor's most successfully creation or something of the sort…"

Vector looked awfully perplexed, and Espio caught onto it instantly.

"What're you thinking?"

Vector simply pulled out one of their newspaper clippings, which contained an article about Sonic saving the world from being impacted by a space station. However, as Espio skimmed it over very well, he discovered that there was another hedgehog involved with the saving of the planet…but he had died in the process.

"Shadow fought valiantly alongside Sonic the Hedgehog, but he sacrificed himself for Sonic, the ARK, the planet, and for Maria Robotnik, the reason why such a catastrophe had occurred in the first place. May he rest in peace, knowing that everyone across the world owe him greatly, and are unable to thank him enough."

"That happened five months ago, right?" Charmy asked, to which Vector nodded.

"Yeah, that's when Eggman disappeared, when Sonic started venturing around and doing good deeds, and when things were at peace…until now, at least."

"The point though, is that if the original Shadow died, then why are there robotic copies everywhere?" questioned Espio.

"It's been said Shadow was the Ultimate Life form," Vector began. "Maybe Eggman tried to recreate that in an army of android look-alikes?"

"Whatever the reason…" interrupted the client, making the team yelp in surprise. "It is very critical that you destroy as many capsules as you can! It will hinder Eggman's process, slowing him down from a mass takeover! Three more capsules, and you'll be a third finished with the minimum I require…"

The line went dead, leaving the Chaotix alone with their racing thoughts.

. . .

Knuckles pushed open a heavy-looking door, Sonic and Tails stepping in behind him.

"Whoa…that's a little unsettling," Sonic whistled, walking over to the other side of the room.

It was a fenced window, but you could clearly see the huge four-turret cannon spinning around and firing in all directions.

Sonic almost thought he saw someone being shot out of that cannon, but that was crazy.

"I don't even want to think of what purpose that holds," Tails cringed.

"The worst part is that it's probably not the only one," huffed Sonic, folding his arms. "Maybe Eggman was using those cannons to clear out space for his weirdest base yet?"

"I hope that's the only case…"

"Hey, are you guys going to stop and have a chat over some tea, or are you coming with me?" Knuckles asked, his head poking out of a hole.

"You sure have a thing with popping up in bizarre places, huh?" Tails asked, climbing down after him.

"I'd rather do that than debate over the usage of super-cannons," grunted Knuckles.

"Dude," Sonic back flipped into the hole, casually landing and folding his arms. "Wouldn't it be a little important knowing what the enemy is up to with certain weapons?"

"Especially when we're headed right for it," added Tails, gesturing to the cannon shooting ammo overhead. "Apparently your little shortcut took us to a path that leads straight to it."

"Maybe we can destroy it then!" Knuckles suggested, taking a fast liking to the idea and sprinting down the path. Tails was left looking rather ridiculous with his face dumbfounded and his hand in the air.

"C'mon, Tails…" Sonic groaned, grabbing his friend with one hand and resting his face in the other. "We know how well things end when Knuckles causes them…"

. . .

"Oh no! Tell me this isn't true!"

"What, Amy? !"

Amy was staring horrifically at her dress.

"There's a spot of ash on my dress! It'll never come out!"

As Cream sighed, Big suddenly looked happy.

"Oh, that's a relief! I thought she was talking about those scary-looking robots over there!"

Cream yelped and looked beyond Big. Sure enough, three Egg Pawns and a Klagen were quickly running towards them.

"Amy, robots!"

"What?" Amy replied, finally looking up from her dress. She cringed on the spot, forgetting about her soiled fabric and proceeding to wail on the nearest machine. The three Egg Pawns were annihilated instantly, but while Amy wasn't looking, the kidnapper grabbed her from behind and started taking off with her.

"What the-? Let me go! NOW!"

"Oh, not again!" Cream exclaimed, running after them. However, she braked to a stop as soon as a fishing line whizzed over her head and hooked the robot.

"Nobody takes my friends!" Big bellowed, pulling on the pole with all his might. The robot struggled against it, trying to get away with Amy in tow. Amy yelped between the tugging and the manhandling, but if she had to choose, tugging would definitely win.

"Pull, Big, PULL!" the hedgehog shouted.

"I'm…trying!"

Eventually, after an intense match of tug of war, Big let out a triumphant roar and yanked. The robot went flying backward, releasing Amy, who fell right on top of Big. Cream watched as the kidnapper continued to fly backwards, its fate ending in the bottom of the abyss.

"Yikes…Amy, are you all right?"

"Never better!" Amy cheered, leaping off of Big. "Look! The robot got rid of the ash spot!"

"That's great, Amy…good to see you're alive as well."

. . .

Trains came at Team Dark on the rails, the three of them constantly veering back and forth to avoid being hit. Two giant cannons spun around in the background, but after their last encounter, no one bothered to comment.

Once they were off the rails, a quintet of Egg Pawns was awaiting them. Omega instantly tore into them, blasting projectiles in all directions.

"Must eradicate all Eggman robots!"

"Haven't heard that one in a while," Rouge commented, jumping into the air and swinging her leg right into the torso of a Pawn. Now with a gaping hole in its chest, the still functioning robot pushed Rouge to the ground and prepared a final strike. Rouge rolled out of the way at the last moment and pushed the robot into Shadow with her foot. Shadow then grabbed it by the arm and swung it into one that was sneaking up from behind, leaving them both in a scrap heap.

"Useless consumer models," he huffed, running off to tackle the only one that remained. Omega seemed notably proud for a robot. Rouge simply adjusted her outfit.

"Ugh, I don't remember beating up half as many robots back in the day," she complained.

"That's because the robots were probably on your side," Omega hummed in a low tone. Rouge shot him a look before helping Shadow finish off the last machine.

. . .

Back with the Chaotix, they were up to fifteen capsules destroyed, meaning they were officially halfway there. None of them could get over the horrendous sight of a deadly creation sprawled out on the ground- and an exact copy of a fallen hero, no less.

"Well, there's three more," Espio pointed out, coming across another set of capsules. "Charmy, you can get them this time, I sup-"

"YES!"

Charmy rushed by Espio in a furious blur, sticking his stinger forward and poking several holes in all three capsules, Then, grabbing Vector, he performed Thunder Shoot, barreling the crocodile through the capsules and leaving with an electric disaster in the wake.

"…a little overkill, but okay."

Charmy just smiled.

Anyway, just up ahead was a turret viewing station, just like the one Team Sonic had been in. Vector watched as it spun around and fired in all directions, unsettling the reptile just a little.

"Come on, we must keep going," Espio said, standing on the blocked off panel.

"But doesn't the path lead right up to that cannon over there?" Charmy asked, gesturing frantically out the sealed window.

"Probably," replied Vector, punching right through the panel and jumping down.

As Charmy had pointed out, the path indeed led up to the huge cannon. Espio marched right up to it, under the pretense that there could be capsules somewhere around it. Vector and Charmy weren't as sure, but it would've been useless to argue.

Espio, being the fastest, reached the entrance to the cannon first, busting down the door with a ninja kick.

"This has to be the cannon's internal mechanism," he realized.

"Well…yeah. That's kind of obvious," Vector huffed. However, his snappy comeback was interrupted by Charmy's uncontrollable curiosity.

"This looks like fun!"

"Don't touch anything, Charmy-"

Naturally, it was too late.

"What are we going to do with you?" Espio huffed, jumping into the middle of the contraption with Charmy. Vector climbed in moments later, seeing that he was about to be left behind, and the Chaotix were suddenly catapulted into the air.

"Hey, it's moving!"

"Gee, it _couldn't_ be because you activated it, Charmy…"

"I wonder where it's going to take us…"

"We'll find out shortly," Vector replied to Espio, feeling the cannon around them beginning to take aim.

Within a split second, the Chaotix were careening in the air, soaring to their next destination.

"At least we just shot through two capsules," Charmy pointed out, attempting to lighten the mood.

"You better just hope we don't slam into a cliff."

. . .

"I doubt you can destroy this," Sonic commented, staring at the internal mechanism that Team Rose had entered before. "Maybe I could with an insane power up, but normal Knuckles? That's a bit of a stretch…"

"Shut up! It was just a suggestion," growled Knuckles in return. Sonic grinned then stepped toward the middle of it.

"Well, if we're throwing ideas around, how's about I throw my hat into the ring as well?"

"What good idea can you come up?"

"A better one than you could."

"Shut up!"

"Anyway," Sonic snickered, turning to Tails. "How about we fire this thing?"

"Well, it certainly is possible, but after the train explosion-"

Sonic grabbed Tails and Knuckles and jumped into the middle. Tails simply froze and Knuckles proceeded to throw a very mature fit.

"Hey, come on now! Don't do it, Sonic!"

"Shoulda said something quicker," Sonic smirked as the section they were standing on began to rise.

The cannon spun around several times, eventually taking aim at slim opening in the ravine.

With a powerful bang, the three were propelled out of the cannon.

"YEEEE-AAAH!"

"SONIC!"

. . .

Team Rose was currently in flight formation, Cream carrying them across a sparsely platformed area. They landed on one and flew to the next, until they came to a lower part of the area. Cream promptly let go, Amy and Big landing on their feet and looking around.

"Ugh, I see another cannon up there," Amy groaned, pointing upwards. "I hope we don't need to shoot ourselves out of that one…"

"I hope we don't either," added Cream.

"It looks like we need to go down," Big realized, walking over to a boarded up area on the ground. He ground-pounded into it, causing the boards beneath to break…and for him to fall in. Amy and Cream jumped down after, only to be briskly whisked away due to something moving beneath them.

"Huh?"

"We're on a train!" Amy cried. "At least…I think it's a train."

"Whatever it is, I wish it wouldn't go so fast!"

Cream gripped a railing, and wasn't about to let go for anything. Amy quickly looked back to see Big taking out all of the weapons on the train, quickly advancing to the front.

"Um, Cream? I think we should be following Big…"

"But what if we fall?"

"I think falling is about to be the least of our problems…" Amy trailed, noticing Big had an "I did something wrong" look on his face.

Cream whimpering in reply, but Amy didn't have time for that. She pulled Cream away from her life line and sprinted toward Big. As soon as they reached the cat, the train suddenly exploded.

"Aaaaah!"

"We're fine, Cream! Look!"

Cream dared to open her eyes, only to see the three of them flying out of the cave and onto a rail leading outside. Big had grabbed the girls and was now carrying them down the rails.

"Big, what exactly did you do to cause a train to explode?" Amy dared to ask, only receiving a blank look from Big.

"I'm…not really sure…"

. . .

"We_ really_ better be going the right way," growled Shadow, lounging on his back as a high speed train carried him and his team through a transport tunnel.

"You know just as well as the rest of us that we had no idea what that boarded up hole was blocking," Rouge uttered.

"That's why I told Omega_ not_ to break it!"

"Detected robotic presences."

"So, you were skeptical on where the cannon was going to shoot us, but you're going to trust that this train will take us where we need to go?" Rouge continued, referring to Shadow now looking like he was on vacation.

"The cannon's shooting in random directions," Shadow said like it was obvious. "This train has to go somewhere important, and I doubt Eggman would have the cannon aim at his base."

Rouge flustered, but didn't reply.

"My sensors detect that we are headed in the direction of the base, but it won't stop there," Omega calculated, and Rouge could see the processing in his eyes. "Therefore, I deduce we stop this train in…less than forty-five seconds."

Rouge and Shadow shared in a simultaneous cry of disbelief as Omega casually walked to the helm of the train, blasted the engine core, and grabbed the rest of his team before they were all caught in the explosion. Instead, the oncoming blast propelled them out the nearest exit; the three of them miraculously flew out over the rail. Rouge, a bit discombobulated, grabbed Shadow and Omega and quickly lowered them to safety before collapsing in a heart-stopping heap.

. . .

With twenty capsules now demolished, the Chaotix only had ten more Shadow Android-filled canisters to destroy.

"That shot us quite a distance," Espio deduced, the team now riding on a set of rails.

"That was awesome! Can we do it again?"

"Charmy…this isn't a rollercoaster ride!"

"It sure feels like it!" the bee cried back, spreading out his arms as they spiraled down the rails. They came to a stop at a platform with nothing more than a fan on it. Vector whipped out a pack of gum, shoved every piece into his mouth, and blew a huge bubble big enough to carry the trio up the gust. As Vector was being overtaken by his bubble, Espio and Charmy latched on and were carried upwards as well.

"All right," Espio said, sticking his landing and walking forward. "Any sign of the final ten capsules?"

Vector shook his head and jerked his thumb forward. "No, but there's another large cannon in the distance."

"Not what we're looking for then."

Espio darted forward, swinging his arm and sending a rain of ninja stars into the torsos of Egg Pawns. Charmy flew up alongside him, flying straight through one robot…only to be left dizzy afterward.

"Charmy, Charmy, Charmy," Vector sighed, taking a deep breath.

"Hit the deck!" Espio shouted, crouching down as Charmy slammed into the ground.

Vector lurched forward and heaved fire, spinning around and damaging any robots within range. Once his fire of terror was over, Espio sprung back into action. He landed in front of one of the still operating robots and ducked under one of their swings. He retaliated with a kick, then spun around and knocked it over. Charmy flew up and pushed it, causing it to roll into other robots and knock them down as well.

"Leave this to me, boys," Vector cried out, crashing down in the center of all the robots, causing a shockwave that blew them all to pieces.

"We are good," Charmy boasted, striking a stoic pose. Espio groaned as he walked to the edge of the platform. There were five more capsules that the robots had been guarding, but it wouldn't be that way for much longer.

Espio struck the one in the middle, Vector took out the ones on the right, and Charmy busted up the left ones. Once there was nothing left but metallic rubble and broken wiring, Espio turned heel and marched away.

"Only five more…"

"But who knows how many more of those things are out there," whispered Vector, glancing back at the destroyed capsules.

For all they knew, they probably didn't even put a dent in the numbers.

. . .

"Wow, that's what I call a flight!" Sonic exclaimed cheekily, contently grinding down a descending rail.

He apparently was the only one who had enjoyed it.

"I think my heart stopped…" Knuckles groaned, still grabbing his chest. Tails was just panting from the sheer extremeness of it all.

"Phew…I'm going to need a nice long relaxing machine to build when I get home," Tails panted.

Sonic just shook his head as they were whipped from the rail and flung to a fan. Knuckles quickly began to glide, grabbing Tails and Sonic and performing Triangle Dive. When they reached the top, Knuckles was horrified (and Sonic was pleased) to see a bobsled of all things waiting for them.

"So that's what this kart-thing is called," Sonic stated, curling into ball form and acting as a wheel.

"We can't win…exploding trains, getting shot out of cannons, riding this thing…weirdest morning ever," complained Knuckles. "Even stranger than the morning I went to Station Square…"

"We've got to be careful, guys," Tails interrupted, gripping the sled for his life. "Every time we hit something, someone is going to fly off!"

"What? !" Sonic and Knuckles cried in unison.

"The size of the bobsled contributes to that…The speed decreases if Sonic is thrown off, we won't be able to jump if I'm thrown off, and we'll lose control if Knuckles falls off!"

"In that case, if we hit something, we'll sacrifice Sonic first," Knuckles deadpanned.

"Hey, if we don't have enough speed, we might not be able to make certain jumps!" Sonic defended.

"Look, we need everyone on this thing if we want to get out of here alive," intervened Tails. "So there will be no sacrificing!"

"Hoo boy…" Knuckles breathed, maintaining control of the contraption as best he could.

. . .

"You could've killed us, Omega!" Shadow hissed once again, the glower on his face mirroring his mood perfectly.

"And I've already attempted to convey to you that it was the only way to ensure that we reach our destination."

"But did it ever cross your processors that we could've died in the process?"

"It was merely a seventy-five percent probability."

"That's a really high probability, Omega."

"Your point?"

"Let's just end it here and say that Omega was quite useful!" Rouge interrupted just as Shadow was on the verge of performing a midair kick. "Although it was rather scary…"

"And life threatening!" sneered the hedgehog. Omega would've rolled his eyes.

"As if _you_ haven't put the team's living status in jeopardy?"

"…what are _you_ implying? !"

"Ooh…" moaned Rouge, pressing her ears against her head as she was the one not lagging behind for once. Just when the two were okay with being within a few feet radius of each other, Shadow might as well have been ripping out Omega's power unit, and it was only a matter of time before Omega was targeting between the hedgehog's eyes.

"Pointless, pointless, pointless, and the same thing over and over…" the bat sighed again. "I just wish this was over already."

She turned and continued to watch Shadow and Omega go head to head, eventually prompting her to pull out Shadow's original inhibitor ring.

"I wonder…if he has no memories to remember…then is this really his? And am I doing this all for nothing?"

. . .

"I'm on a train! I'm on a train! Everybody look at me because I-"

"Charmy, the singing is unnecessary."

"Says the crocodile with the headphones."

"We are in a high-speed transport tunnel," Espio grumbled, balancing carefully on the train. "The last thing we need is harmonizing."

"Oh, we're almost to the terminal, and that's gotta be where the last capsules are," scoffed Vector. "We'll just ride this to the exit, hop off at the terminal, bash the capsules, and we can call it a day!"

"We can't call it a day when it's not even noon yet!"

"You know what I mean!"

"HEY GUYS!"

Vector and Espio's pupils shrunk as the small, high-pitched voice called out to them.

"I think I found the engine!"

"DON'T TOUCH IT, CHARMY-"

Boom.

"WAAAAAAAH!"

Vector, Espio, and Charmy literally blasted out of the tunnel, flying back to the outside world just as the explosion missed them. Charmy was covered in remains of the blast, but you couldn't find a happier kid.

"Man! How are we going to top THAT maneuver? ! It's gotta be a really dangerous stunt!"

"If we're lucky, we won't."

"Ugh, can this get worse?"

As if on cue, the three of them landed in a bobsleigh. Espio grunted as he made the thing go faster.

"We need to stop tempting fate."

. . .

"Sensors indicate that we are closing in on the main base of operations, in case any of you would like to be informed," Omega explained, as sarcastically as a robot could sound. Shadow growled in retaliation; Rouge silently thanked him.

"'Bout time we closed in on this place," Shadow mumbled under his hushed breath. "Now we just destroy it, locate Eggman, pin him down, and-"

"Blast the mustache off his bald cranium!" Omega roared, lifting his hand into the air and shaking it.

"Um, how about having some questions answered first?" Rouge offered.

"Ha, that would be the smart thing to do," huffed Shadow, glancing in Omega's direction. Rouge expressed her exasperation very loudly as Shadow took off forward, not waiting another second more. Omega eventually caught onto what Shadow had implied and marched after him- with Rouge once again flying after them while shaking her head.

"I just had to end up with the team of vicious vigilantes," she began to monologue once more. "Everyone else gets friends that are easy to talk to, but I-"

"Sorry to interrupt, but if you're done yelling at yourself-"

"Yes, yes, I'm coming Omega…"

. . .

After their train exploding escapade, Team Rose felt that they had done enough for one day. Big was still a little confused on his actions, Cream was feeling a bit jittery, but still cheerful, and Amy still had a confident flair to her outlook.

"Where are we supposed to go now, Amy?" Cream asked, cuddling Cheese like a teddy bear. "Last time, Eggman found _us_, so how are we going to find him?"

"With a little Sonic instinct," Amy replied with a twinkle in her eye. She pulled out her hammer and held it before her, leading her team into their next adventure.

. . .

Shadow led the charge, with the other two following him, though Omega was probably only still trailing him because of previous debates. Rouge tried to lighten the mood as they grinded the rails, throwing in an occasion flirtatious comment here and there- even though it didn't quite work as well on Omega.

But no matter what she tried, Shadow and Omega refuse to converse. Their limited truce had all but completely dissolved once again.

The only thing that placed them on even ground was…well, battlegrounds.

Rouge lowered herself down from the air and got into a battle-ready stance. "Looks like there's a last minute ambush…and there's quite a lot of them."

"Do they really think they have a chance?" inquired Omega.

"Outnumbered, perhaps," Shadow began, tossing his Emerald into the air. "…but still no match! Chaos Control!"

Rouge proceeded to lift Omega as time stopped for the robot surrounding them, with Omega charging up his inferno blast. Once the radius was long enough, Omega unleashed the built-up power, furious fire flying in all directions. Most of the robots were left in a charred up heap, but any that remained were finished off swiftly by Shadow.

"See, we may be able to hold our own alone…" Rouge began, stepping in-between Shadow and Omega. "…but together, we're truly unstoppable."

Shadow and Omega were silent, but Rouge knew that there was no denying it. However, the mood was interrupted by Shadow tilting his head slightly and suddenly taking off.

"There's the base's control tower!"

"You mean we're finally there?" Rouge gaped, spreading her wings and flying after.

"Here we come, Eggman!" Omega boomed.

. . .

"Brace yourselves!" Sonic shouted as they entered a tunnel filled with transport trains. Knuckles violently jerked left to right, swerving away from oncoming trains. Tails had to jump over a few bumps in the road. Sonic just made sure to keep blast processing down the rails to get the heck outta there.

"At least none of us fell off," Tails stated when they finally escaped the tunnel.

"Yeah, but we're all about to crash!" yelled Knuckles, a few seconds before the bobsled slammed head first into a wall. Team Sonic was flung out of their positions, tumbling into the air and soaring over a pretty big canyon.

"Heh, can't get a view like this anywhere else!" Sonic chuckled.

"You couldn't get a view like this if you were someone else," muttered Knuckles.

"Anyone else concerned about where we're about to land?" Tails asked, cutting off the conversation. "Or is that just me?"

"Nah, I'm pretty concerned too," replied Knuckles. "Flight formation?"

"Please," Sonic begged. "Before I fall again…"

"Leave it to me!"

Tails grabbed Sonic, who then swung by Knuckles so he could grab on too. They floated over another cannon, which they realized was pointed away from a particularly busy looking area.

"That must be Eggman's base straight ahead of us!"

"All right! Here were go!" Sonic cheered, cuing Tails to let them go. The three of them cannonballed downwards, closing in on an Eggman-shaped building. Sonic couldn't help but grin. "Looks like we found the center!"

Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles barreled right into the base at full speed, destroying it with nothing more than force, strength, and pure awesomeness.

"If we could destroy a base like that…" Knuckles began, the three of them standing where the base once was. "…I'm pretty sure we could've destroyed that cannon."

"Eh, maybe you're right," Sonic shrugged, walking around the destroyed area. "But you've gotta admit, that was pretty neat!"

"Hmm…" Tails pondered, holding up a small section of the base they had annihilated. "That's odd…why would Eggman build a base with such weak materials? Granted, it was small…but why would he build a small base as well?"

"Hey, I've got an idea…" Knuckles trailed, glancing up at the sky.

"Is it really an idea, or is it something I need to make a joke about?" questioned Sonic. Knuckles narrowed his eyes, grabbed Sonic, and turned him around. A shadow suddenly cast over the trio, causing Sonic and Tails to frown.

"Anyway, maybe Eggman put all his good materials into building…_that."_

"You know what Knuckles…I think you're on to something," Tails commented.

Sonic just stared at the contraption overhead and clenched his fists.

. . .

The Chaotix finally reached the end of their bobsleigh ride…though the bobsleigh didn't make it. Charmy had gotten quite an earful about touching things from both Vector and Espio, and he suddenly wasn't looking so chipper.

"Are we done yet? I'm tired of seeing nothing but a canyon for miles…" whined Charmy.

"We might be done already if someone hadn't blown up the train," grunted Vector.

"Hey, it probably wasn't the first time."

"We've reached our destination," Espio interrupted calmly, strutting toward the final five capsules. He battered four of them, but when it came down to the very last one, he felt suddenly apprehensive.

"What's the hold up, Espio?" Vector asked, scratching the back of his head. Espio quickly snapped out his daze and punched right through the final capsule.

"…nothing. Just pointless pondering."

"So…now what?" Charmy wondered, looking around.

Vector said nothing and simply held up the walkie talkie, which instantly began to vibrate.

"Good job, boys! That'll really show Eggman we mean business!"

"Great," muttered Espio. "What's next?"

"To be honest, I'm not entirely sure. I can't make any hasty decisions until Eggman strikes again…hmmm…"

Vector and Espio exchanged glances as Charmy waved his fists around.

"However, since Eggman's main base has been destroyed, I suppose he'll be looking for the culprits. Keep an eye out for him in the area while I devise something for you to do next."

He hung up, leaving the Chaotix with hardly anything to go by.

. . .

Team Dark closed in on the base's control tower, which was definitely still intact…but too bad that the base wasn't.

"What? !" Shadow exclaimed, skidding to a stop. "How_ did_ this happen? !"

"Looks like someone beat us here," Rouge suggested.

"However…" Omega rotated around, as if scanning the area. "Sensors detect that Eggman is not too far away from our location."

Rouge nodded, preparing to take off after him, but Shadow had other ideas. He slowly walked over the rumble of the bases, the remains of metal crunching under his shoes. A small spark had caught his eye, buried under a small pile of debris. He crouched down and uncovered the object, revealing the white Chaos Emerald resting underneath.

"Whoa- how'd you see that?" Rouge asked, eyes widening.

"Sensors didn't even indicate its location."

Shadow shrugged, tossing the emerald up and catching it behind its back. "I dunno. I just sort of knew it was there."

"Well, be careful- last time you received some weird vision," Rouge pointed out. Shadow brought the emerald up to his face gazing into it again.

"Well…I feel something again, but-"

Something huge chose that moment to swoop over the team, making its way out of the canyon. Shadow instantly put the Chaos Emerald with the other one and followed after the machine.

"Let's move- that's got to be Eggman!"

Rouge held out a hand to stop him, but then remembered stopping Eggman was the top priority and flew after.

This was bound to be interesting.


	13. Egg Albatross

Because We're Sonic Heroes

Chapter 12: Egg Albatross

The gun-toting blimp crossed the marigold morning sky, carrying loads of cargo that would be absolutely critical to the doctor's plan. Eggman was actually supervising this particular shipment, making sure that it was delivered to _wherever _safely. He had rebuilt and recycled the Egg Hawk just for this occasion, planning to leave Rail Canyon completely to put the third phase of his plan into action.

He really should've known that the teams would spot a conspicuous flying bird-blimp sooner or later.

"Something weird in there?" Amy noted, staring up at the Egg Albatross and wondering just what it was transporting. Cream and Big, on the other hand, were thinking completely different thoughts.

"Cheese, you'll be united with Chocola very soon!"

"Froggy too?"

"Let's get him before Sonic does!" Amy cried, charging into battle. "Then he'll be head over heels for me!"

"You're not really listening, are you?" Cream sighed, though her point was lost in the winds the Albatross was creating. It completely turned around, floating low enough to the ground to take perfect aim at the team.

"You never know when to stay out of my way, do you?" Eggman fumed, hands gripping the steering mechanism so hard that they could snap. "I've got bigger things to deal with than you three, plus there's somewhere I've got to be right now! I _suppose_ I'll make it quick…"

"Not if we make quick work of _you_ first!" cried Amy, thrusting forward with her hammer. "This is it, you two! Ready?"

"Yes, I suppose," Cream agreed, readying Cheese in her palm.

"Okey dokey!"

The Albatross fired several projectiles, but Team Rose zipped right under the aircraft at stunning speeds and began to grind the rails ahead. Not one of them knew how to go about beating the thing, so Amy instructed them to keep moving until an opportunity presented itself.

Instead of turning the flying craft around once again, Eggman simply resorted to flying backward. The grind rails eventually ended, leaving the team to run once again. Amy, Big, and Cream were forced to duck and jump away from the blasts of fire, plasma, and huge spiked cannonballs narrowly missing their heads- especially Big.

"The cannons that shoot out the metal cannonballs are so tough!" Cream exclaimed, watching as Big yelped and ducked his head once again. "You can take care of them Mr. Big, right?"

"I can sure try," Big decided, stopping for a brief moment and pulling out his fishing rod. He cast it forward, snagging the front of the blimp. Eggman instantly noticed the hook caught in his machine and let out a laugh.

"You think you can stop me with a fishing rod?" he bellowed. "What do you think this machine is- the Egg Salmon?"

"No, but it's a matter of time before you build one," Amy scoffed. "Show him what you've got Big."

"Yeah, kitty, really reel me in with your shrimpy pole! It should prove to be a real catch! Ha ha ha ha!"

'He's not gonna like what happens next…" Cream trailed, her gaze slowly rolling over to Big. The cat's eyes narrowed in determination, followed by throwing his arms back and causing the entire Egg Albatross to snap upwards, rendering the cannons unable to aim properly. Eggman rolled out of his seat and shouted as his head hit his chair.

"HEY! That's not supposed to happen!"

Amy and Cream cheered in triumph, Cream proceeding to grab Amy and fly her up to the Albatross.

"Good work, Big!" they both called down. Big just put a huge smile on his face and waved happily.

Once they were directly above the Egg Albatross, Cream released Amy, the hedgehog spiraling downward with her hammer extended and surrounded by the power of Thunder Shoot.

She crashed head on into the front, leaving a dent in Eggman's cockpit and messing up two of the cannons. Eggman let out a deep growl and grabbed the steering wheel, which still functioned properly, and put the Egg Albatross back on its proper flight course.

"We did it!" cheered Amy.

"But we're not finished yet," pointed out Cream.

"The ship still hasn't come down yet…" Big realized unsurely.

"But…we've got him now, don't we?"

"Amy, he's getting away!" Cream cried, starting to run after him.

"Even now I've spent too much time toying with you," Eggman seethed, hovering high above them and well out of their reach for another attack. "I didn't even leave a mark, and you've ruined two of my cannons in one blow!"

"It was hard to tell that you were even trying!" sneered Amy.

"I'm saving the energy for bigger threats, and sorry to say girly, you're not on that list."

"Like Team Sonic!" Amy snapped again, refusing to be outdone. "They never fail to take you down, no matter what!"

"Yeah, they always make sure that you never get away with anything!" added Cream.

"Hmph," Eggman grumbled. "They're not the only other team out there besides you…"

"You mean there are more than two teams?" Amy asked, surprised.

"I kinda had a feeling…" Big trailed.

"But why would anyone _else_ want to go after you?" Cream wondered.

"I must have a fan club. However, I'm just surprised that you're _so_ out of the loop," Eggman casually walked his fingers over to a blue button. "Allow me to bring you up to speed!"

His fingers lightly pressed the button, but a heavy cannonball shot out. Amy saw it coming and scrambled to get out of the way, the lethal projectile barely missing them. The resonating shockwave forced them back, creating more space between the team and the doctor.

"Eggman! We'll get you for this!" Amy promised, sending an angry glare at him. "This isn't over!"

"Well, what can I say?" Eggman shrugged, uncontrollably grinning as he made his getaway. "By the end of tomorrow, it WILL be over…Oh ho ho ho ho!"

…

The Chaotix did just what they were instructed to do- search the area for Eggman. It was surreally quiet, though Espio was straining his ears (if he had any) for even the slightest change in the silence.

"I'm bored!"

Besides that one.

"Charmy, you have to be quiet," Espio ordered, trying to regain his focus.

"Why? It's already quiet, and it's boring! Why couldn't our client give us something more…_specific,_ to do?"

"Because our assign was specific enough- find Eggman," Vector shrugged. "We've just gotta locate him!"

"All cannons…open fire!"

The group all froze, except for Espio, who jumped in the direction the yell came from.

"That must be…"

"Whadda we do now?" groaned Vector in response to Espio. Espio prepared to reply until his communication device roared to life.

"Dr. Eggman's secret weapons must be aboard that ship. Destroy it before it reaches the edge of the canyon!"

"Yeah, we'll get right on that," Espio huffed, turning it off instantly.

"It's like he has some way of listening to us…" Vector stared suspiciously at the walkie talkie.

"Perhaps he has one way listening?" Espio suggested.

"If he does, that's _really_-"

"Eggman's aircraft straight ahead!" Charmy shouted, pointing frantically in the direction of the oncoming Egg Albatross. Vector and Espio followed his gesture, catching Eggman retreating from his "fight" with Team Rose and still trying to transport his secret weapons from the canyon.

"Wait," Espio ordered, stopping Vector and Charmy from dashing off on the instant. "It looks powerful…are we ready?"

"What're you talking about? I can't wait!" cheered Charmy.

"Anytime you're ready," Vector replied with a wink. Espio nodded and produced a shuriken.

"Then it is settled."

He hurled the ninja star at the Egg Albatross, despite it being quite a distance away. The star got caught in one of the turbines, insinuating an instant malfunction.

"The heck- what now?" Eggman grumbled, struggling to keep the ship flying. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the Chaotix approaching and rolled his eyes. "Hrrr…they're a little early."

"Stop there, evil doer!" Espio shouted, sending up a rain of ninja stars. Most of them clanked harmlessly off the metal, but some of them broke through and stuck.

"Why do you feel the need to get in my way? !" Eggman howled, retaliating with fire balls.

"Well, stop trying to take over the world and I'm sure you wouldn't be bothered," Vector pointed out.

Eggman said nothing more and fired more projectiles, the Egg Albatross flying out of reach. Espio continued to hurl stars at it, but they weren't doing much damage.

"How are we supposed to strike it?" Charmy asked. "It keeps dodging out of the way!"

"You_ aren't_ supposed to strike it!" Eggman retorted. He slammed his fist on the blue button once again, releasing another jumbo cannonball. Espio and Charmy moved out of the way as it landed just in front of Vector. The crocodile paused for a moment, stretched his arms a bit, and proceeded to pick up the cannonball.

"Vector, there's no way you can pick that up," Espio stated calmly, but his wide eyes told all. Regardless of Espio's comment, Vector continued to lift the orb of steel.

To Charmy's surprise, Vector managed to pick it up.

To Espio's surprise, Vector picked it up…and hurled it right at the Egg Albatross.

"Can't deny the progress of working out!" Vector declared, making a muscle and patting it afterwards. Espio couldn't hold back his groan.

The cannonball crashed into the under section of the Albatross, snapping it right off. Eggman literally screamed as all his weapons stored beneath crashed into the rails and platforms below, damaging all the weapons, and androids, inside. Everything he had planned and perfected to make the trip had been ruined…and the reason for those plans was now tumbling to the bottom of the canyon, destined to never be recovered.

"You're going to regret this…do you have _any _idea of what you've just done?" Eggman grumbled, his voice slowly rising with each word.

"Um…partially hinder your big plan?" Charmy guessed. Eggman took a deep breath to let out pent up rage, but it came out as a crazed laugh instead.

"Well, there's more where those came from. Much, _much_ more!" his laugh began to echo throughout the canyon. "You've hardly done a _thing_ to hinder me!"

What remained of his machine (the reincorporated Egg Hawk, the balloon, and the main propellers) soared into the air, did a loop, and performed a nosedive, headed straight for the team. This time, Vector and Charmy jumped out of the way while Espio jumped onto it.

"Charmy!" the chameleon called, pointing down at the blimp located just under the bird. "It might be a good idea to pop his bubble, huh?"

"Right on!"

Charmy flew up instantly, leaving Vector to keep the doctor distracted as more miscellaneous projectiles kept raining down on him. Espio continued to onslaught with shuriken after shuriken until Charmy arrived, the bee jamming his stinger into the blimp.

With a satisfying pop, the blimp started careening out of the air, taking Espio, Charmy, and Eggman with it.

"Not one of your best ideas!" Charmy yelped, his stinger still stuck in the blimp.

"No, it's still in progress," Espio assured, jumping off the beak of the bird. He grabbed Charmy, unstuck his stinger, and the bee flew them back down to safety.

"That ship was pretty cool-looking," Charmy giggled. "Too bad we destroyed it!"

"This is the second thing that shouldn't have happened today!" Eggman yelled, shaking his fists as the Egg Albatross still hovered out of control. "It's not even noon yet, and there's still a whole day before I can put my plan into action…"

"You mean the plan hasn't even been executed yet? !" Vector guffawed.

"As far as you know," Eggman huffed, trying to steer once again. "I believe you've meddled with me enough for one day, don't you think?"

"Not until you're brought to justice!" Espio established, clenching his fists. "Our target will be destroyed!"

"Have fun with that…"

Without another word, Eggman separated the Albatross from the broken blimp, taking off into the still-orange sky. Vector just scratched the back of his head.

"We'll, that'll shut him up for a while…"

. . .

Eggman was _still_ trying to escape the canyon, despite his cargo having been wasted by the Chaotix and his cannons still slightly mangled by Team Rose. However, he knew that if he didn't get out of there soon, it was only a matter of time before a certain hedgehog-

"Doctor!" Shadow yelled, throwing himself on top of what was left of the Albatross.

Well, wrong hedgehog, but bothersome all the same.

"We got him!" Rouge shouted, running up to the massive blimp in their path. "Capture him first, then you can have your revenge, Omega."

"Affirmative."

"We have to get him, no matter what, all right?" Shadow stated, gripping the wing. Eggman, who was already _beyond_ annoyed, started steering recklessly in a last effort attempt to shake Shadow off.

"What do you want from me now? !" he roared. "I told you everything I know."

"Enough with the lies!" Shadow punched the wing of the Albatross so hard that it left a dent. "You haven't told us the whole story, have you?"

The Albatross began flying backwards once again, shooting small but effective fireballs at Rouge and Omega. Rouge could do nothing but weave between them; Omega stood his ground and let loose with all his artillery.

"Careful, Omega," Rouge warned, flying between the attacks. "Don't hit Shadow…"

"Target locked on Eggman!"

"…I guess I've got nothing to worry about…"

Shadow, meanwhile, pulled himself to his feet, walking carefully towards Eggman. The doctor was still focusing his main attention on Rouge and Omega, almost forgetting that Shadow was still on top of the aircraft.

Almost, but not completely.

Just when Shadow was close enough to grab and reprimand the doctor, the Albatross dove down and snapped back up, flinging Shadow off, up into the air, and back towards the ground.

"Ha ha, perfect," Eggman snarled, smirking and returning to firing at Rouge. Rouge saw Shadow falling and prepared to go catch him, but on her way over she was struck by a fireball.

"Ah, my wing!" she shrieked, veering off course and stumbling into the dirt. After laying in shock for a few seconds, she spat particles of dust out of her mouth and groaned. "Since when did we get so careless?"

Omega then proceeded to march in front of Rouge and take aim at Eggman once again. Since Shadow was no longer on the ship, there was no holding back.

"Eradicate immediately!" he exclaimed, ammo of all sorts flying out and attacking Eggman's machine. The contraption was on the ropes as it was, and Omega's rapid fire wasn't making things look good for Eggman…

Shadow was still caught off guard by the fact he had fallen off, but eventually he flickered on his jet shoes, flipped himself right side up, and began to skate just before his feet touched the ground. He rushed over to Rouge, who was kneeling on the ground and petting her injured wing.

"Are you all right?"

"Yeah…" Rouge flapped her wing, checking to see that it still functioned properly. She cringed moments later, and folded them back into place. "It's nothing…just a small burn. It'll heal."

"You can't fly, can you?" Shadow blurted instantly, saying the exact thing Rouge had hoped to avoid. The look on her face was more than enough to answer, though.

He glanced behind her, witnessing Omega still battling ruthlessly against the Egg Albatross. Shadow figured Omega could hold off Eggman for a bit longer and pulled out the white Chaos Emerald. He was going to try something…even if he had no idea how to do it.

But before Shadow could even try, the emerald sparked, and he received another vision.

. . .

"Shadow, what do you think it's like on Earth?"

"The professor said his life's work was dedicated all of those who live down there. He once told me that the reason for his existence was making people happy through the power of science."

"Shadow…"

"Maria…I just don't know anything anymore. I often wonder why I was created, what my purpose is for being here. Maybe if I go down there, I…I will find the answers. Maybe…"

Shadow then got a sad look in his eyes.

"Maria…"

. . .

That wasn't _all_ the vision had given him, but the rest was too _gruesome_ to describe. A look of horror had crossed Shadow's face, but he was brought out of his own thoughts by Omega shouting unrepeatable things to Eggman and Rouge cowering in fear.

"Now or never," Shadow uttered, bringing the Chaos Emerald forward and placing it against Rouge's wing. The bat tensed from the sudden contact, but as she felt the Chaos Energy coursing through her, she relaxed, and eventually, the burn on her wing was no more.

"Wow," she breathed, flying into the air to see if it was true. "How did you know-"

"You said it yourself- the gems can cause miracles," Shadow said plainly, tossing it at her. Rouge gave a small yelp and it landed in her palms. "Maybe you should hang onto this one for a while. After all, I only need one."

"I-"

"Look, we're just wasting time," explained the hedgehog, gesturing to the Egg Albatross and Omega, who was going to need to stop firing at _some_ point. "There'll be time to mull this over later, but I need you to fly up and finish the job."

"What about capturing the doctor?" Rouge asked, tucking the emerald away for safe keeping.

Shadow glanced away. "He's obviously irritated. We're not going to be able to get anything out of him while he's like this…but we're not done yet, so don't let your guard down."

"I know," Rouge sighed, beginning to take off. "You be careful too."

Shadow nodded as Omega stopped firing his weapons to reload. "Secondary wave approaching. Ready to attack."

"Easy Omega," Shadow stated, halting him. "I have a feeling that anymore attacking won't be necessary."

The duo watched as Rouge made her way up to the furious Eggman, who was still firing any weapons that he still had. This time, Rouge let nothing touch her as she made her way up, and once she was at the beak of the Albatross, she delivered Eggman a dangerous smirk.

"Back for more, you rat with wings?" Eggman hissed, threatening to press the blue button.

"Why not just give it up, doctor?"

Rouge gave Eggman a parting gift in the form of a painful-looking kick- it was just a shame she hadn't struck Eggman himself. The Egg Albatross utterly spiraled out of control, and at this point Eggman gave up trying to keep it maintained.

"Did you forget who I am,_ doctor_?" Shadow huffed, watching him fly away in a very pathetic retreat. "It would've been easier if you just told us what we wanted to know…"

"Large weapon transporter battleship: destroyed!"

. . .

Of course, Eggman's brutal butt-kicking by the three teams he_ least_ expected wouldn't be complete until insult was added to injury- running into Team Sonic.

The team had been looking for the Egg Albatross ever since it soared over their heads…you know, back when it was still fully complete and once carried super-weapons and had multiple properly functioning cannons…and didn't look like it just returned from war.

"Sonic, look!" Tails cried. It was pretty hard to miss the massive airship, though…if it could even be _called_ an airship anymore.

"Okay, that cannot be the same thing we saw earlier," Knuckles gaped, eyeing the flying thing in disbelief. "What…happened to it?"

"I dunno," Sonic shrugged, curling up into a ball and throwing himself at it. "Let's finish trashing it!"

Knuckles rolled his eyes with disbelief. "Of _course_…"

Eggman was completely oblivious to the fact that blue supersonic hedgehog was about to ram into his banged up machine. He was so close to getting out of the canyon, just a little bit farther-

"Eggman, you're finished!"

Not again.

Sonic slammed into the Egg Albatross like a wrecking ball, pretty much destroying any hope it had of escape. Eggman knew he wasn't escaping now and was on the verge of throwing in the towel.

"What's wrong, Eggman?" Sonic mocked once he landed back on the ground. "Did you run into Amy or something?

"With that kind of damage, I wouldn't be surprised if he was beaten by the Chaotix too," snickered Knuckles.

"Oh, shut up!" Eggman didn't even throw some banter around- he just slammed the blue button and prepared to drop a cannonball on the group. Sonic and Tails scattered while Knuckles simply revved his fist back, then struck the cannonball dead on.

It stopped in midair, followed by splitting right down the middle. Knuckles smirked as Sonic and Tails came up from behind him, the former whistling.

"Wow."

"That's what Knuckles brings to the party," the echidna boasted, stretching out his right arm. Sonic glanced at Eggman and grinned.

"Too bad this party's almost half over!" he then looked thoughtful. "Say…you guys up for really bringing this party up to speed?"

"Sure thing!" Tails agreed, already flying up behind him.

"Yeah, might as well put this thing out of its misery here and now, huh?"

"Please, _no_," Eggman pleaded, begging from his place in the cockpit. "I've already had my butt handed to me by three teams today already- why add one more?"

"Wait, three?" Sonic raised an eyebrow. "There's…_another_ team besides us, Rose, and the Chaotix?"

"_Yes,"_ growled Eggman. "Sheesh, all twelve of you have been everywhere at the exact same time and you're hardly aware of the others' existence? Team Rose was _really _out of the loop!"

"Dang, Eggman," Knuckles began, hands behind his head. "You must really be popular if you've got that many people after your head."

"Oh, _you're_ suddenly whipping out witty insults?" simpered Sonic. "Thought I was the only one that did that."

"I have my moments too."

"And I don't have time for this!"

Eggman's throat was unsurprisingly sore from all the screaming and shouting done just in that hour alone- he needed to get back to a base, where he could regroup, think of a new strategy, possibly prune his 'stache…

"Sonic, don't you think it's really strange that the Egg Albatross has last even this long?" Tails asked curiously. "Something's not right…"

"It wouldn't be an egg beating if I wasn't there," Sonic chuckled, crouching down.

"Are we doing this, or not?" Knuckles asked. Sonic winked and took a bow.

"Ready anytime!"

Knuckles rolled his eyes as he grabbed Tails' ankles and began to spin him around, Tails picking up Sonic sometime during the process. Once Knuckles sent Tails and Sonic into the air, Sonic curled up into a ball, Tails punted him, and Sonic took off.

"There's only one way for you to go, Eggman… and that's _down_!"

Eggman cried out in agony as the sound of crunching metal echoed all around him, the Egg Albatross bound to explode at any given moment. It wasn't built to withstand the damage it had already taken, and the sheer power from the Sonic Overdrive might as well have been a death wish.

"Take that!" cried Tails as the Egg Albatross imploded on itself.

"You'll never beat us!" shouted Knuckles.

Smoke emerged from the airship and began to form large clouds. Eggman threw his head back and roared in defeat.

"You'll pay for this!" Eggman promised, but this time, he didn't eject himself from his cockpit. For once, he went down with his ship…

"Eggman…you know you can't win!" Sonic shouted, watching as the Egg Albatross careened out of the air and landed somewhere not too far off in the distance…

. . .

"Let's…go find Chocola and Froggy now," Amy groaned, picking herself up off the ground.

She, Cream, and Big had landed not too far away from their confrontation with Eggman, but they managed to reach the outskirts of Rail Canyon. Amy was feeling dizzier from the flight than the landing but the same couldn't be said for Big.

The cat rolled over and groaned- Amy realized there was a notable dent in the dirt.

"I have to find Froggy!" Big declared, forgetting everything that had just happened and proceeding to run off.

"Okay Cheese. Let's go find Chocola!" Cream cheered, hugging her Chao. She and her pet appeared to be completely unscathed.

Their zealous search was interrupted by a large crash just beyond a cliff- one so large that it caused them all to jump. Amy tossed her hair back and ran in the direction of the sound.

"Looks like our friends are going to have to wait!"

"Oh, I hope it's not too scary…" mumbled Big, taking up the back as they went to investigate.

They rounded the cliff, only to find Eggman and the destroyed Egg Albatross sprawled out in a destroyed heap. Amy yelped in surprise, only for this to be replaced by anger as she pulled out her hammer.

"Looks like our revenge will be given a little early…" she smiled, approaching the doctor lying motionless on the ground.

Too bad she didn't catch the fact that Eggman was grinning as well.

As soon as she got close enough to the doctor, Eggman's head suddenly popped away from his body, startling Amy and causing her to drop her hammer.

"Muwahahahaha! Muwhahahaha…"

"Hey!" she shouted, shaking her fist and stomping her foot. "It's just a stupid copy!"

Amy's eyes flared as her gaze followed "Eggman's" swaying head, only connected by a spring. The fact that one of his eyes had sprung out as well didn't make Amy feel much better either.

"Froggy…" Big moaned, searching around and completely oblivious to the fact "Eggman" had just exploded behind him. "Where are you? Let's go home…"

Meanwhile, Cream was trying to comfort Cheese once again.

"Cheese, what's wrong?"

"Chocola, chao chao…"

"Yes," Cream sighed, hugging her Chao once again.

Amy folded her arms, still glaring at the Eggman imposter. "A Chao-napping…a _frog-_napping"

"But…why?"

"I'm not really sure, but I betcha Dr. Eggman's has something to do with it! And we're not going to let him get away with it! C'mon!" Amy motioned for her team to follow her. "Let's get going!"

"Okay," both members agreed, following their leader and finally getting out of the canyon.

. . .

After Team Rose had left, Team Chaotix was also finding their way out of Rail Canyon, so their mystery client could once again give them another cryptic mission. On their way out, they passed the wreck that Amy had come across, so it was only natural that they investigate it too.

"Well, good work boys," Vector said, believing that they were the official cause of the destroyed Albatross. "Guess this Eggman was fake after all!"

"Of course it was!" the client snapped from the walkie talkie.

Vector, Espio, and Charmy all shared a single word in unison.

"HUH? !"

"Listen carefully…there's a huge jungle just north of here," the client explained, and the team knew they weren't about to get clarification about the previous comment. "Go there immediately!"

"Got it!" Vector exclaimed, shutting off the communicator. They pretty much knew the drill by now.

"You know what…our client sure seems to know a lot about this Dr. Eggman guy!" Charmy noticed, floating in front of Vector and Espio to explain.

"Definitely an agent," Espio deduced. "…or a relative, perhaps."

Vector turned around, glancing back at the destroyed Eggman copy.

"Strangely enough," he began. "I had the same weird feeling about our client's REAL identity…it could be you know who…"

. . .

Team Dark was even _less_ impressed by the fake Eggman robot than the previous two teams, Rouge seeming the most upset about- even more so than Omega, who was currently swearing up several bad happenings upon the doctor.

The only reason why Shadow wasn't wallowing in anger was because he had caught something the previous two teams had missed- something cast off to the side, something that had poured out of a container that the Egg Albatross had been originally intended to carry, but had fallen astray when the under section had snapped off.

The torso of a Shadow Android rested on the ground, and Shadow's silent gaze was locked upon it.

Rouge noticed it too, and she swore she felt her heart break.

"Shadow…?" she began to ask, but she didn't need more words than that to get her question across.

Shadow simply activated his jet shoes and boosted off, turning away from the android like it was nothing.

"Let's go," he uttered, still wishing to hunt down the real Eggman, and get answers to the new questions that had just surfaced themselves. Omega followed immediately, more than ready to crack the doctor wide open.

Rouge, however, stayed behind for a few more moments.

"Sonic…I know you're out there, and if you're able to trigger something, _anything_, it'll mean the world to me…" She clutched the ring in her pocket, her eyes squeezing tight. "But if you can't…I'll understand. I'll just have to accept the worst then…"

. . .

"Muwahahaha! Once again, you fools have been tricked!"

"It's a FAKE!" Tails yelled dramatically, since Team Sonic was the only team left to discover this devastating revelation.

"From these canyons, watch as I conquer the world with my air fleet…and this time, you can't stop me!"

The air fleet that had been locked away the recesses of Eggman's base was now free, all of them flying in the air like a large flock of birds…even though they resembled a school of fish more.

"Drat…a trap to stall for time!" Sonic exclaimed, making a fist as he watched the fleet cross the ocean of sky, flying to an unknown destination. Feeling used, he darted off, Knuckles seeing him race off and following him.

"Sonic!"

Meanwhile, Tails was marveling the technological creation, admiring it a little more closely than the others and coming across something.

"It's not an Eggman robot…" he whispered, beginning to reach out and touch it. However, when he noticed that both Sonic and Knuckles were gone, the young fox began to panic. "Sonic…Knuckles…wait for me!"

The "Eggman" robot melted into a silvery liquid, eventually rising and taking shape as something very spikey, very menacing, very robotic, and _very_ devious.

"All life form data….successfully copied."

* * *

><p><strong>I'll admit, I was a bit on the fence about this chapter at first...but reading it over, I think it's okay. I threw another Shadow-vision because of reasons in <em>his<em> game (and if you've played Shadow the Hedgehog or simply watched cutscenes, you'll probably know what the'gruesome image' that was mentioned is). **

**And as the plot progresses, we head into my favorite parts of the story! :)**


	14. Frog Forest

Because We're Sonic Heroes

Chapter 13: Frog Forest

"_I shall find the answer to who I really am…"_

Shadow was mulling to himself, as always, as Team Dark grinded down into Frog Forest. They rode the vines down to stable ground, where they were instantly greeted by Egg Pawns.

The last thing this team wanted to see…except maybe for Omega.

"Annihilate!" yelled the rogue robot, beginning to fire at will. "Must eradicate!"

"Do you have to announce that every time?" Rouge asked, her leg slicing right through the nearest clunker.

As they battled away, Shadow leaped away from the action and perched himself atop a tree. The trees and other plant life rose from the ground and grew to the height of mountains; flowers gave the place a flora feel, and the frogs-

They were huge.

"What in the world…?" Shadow trailed, drifting away from his team and spying on the gargantuan frog. Rouge flew up from behind him and chuckled.

"A big forest has to house big animals you know," she said with a wink. "Be careful not to let them spot you, because they have the ability to make it rain."

"Frogs have the power to make it rain? That's ridiculous."

Rouge simply shrugged. "Don't say I didn't warn ya."

"It can't be any more ridiculous than a red streaked hedgehog with hover shoes and chaos abilities."

Shadow made a face and stalked off. "No one asked you, Omega…"

. . .

"Big," Amy began slowly, staring at the environment around them. "When you said you could, er…smell Froggy, did you mean Froggy, or some other frog?"

"Definitely Froggy!" replied Big. "What makes you ask?"

"We're in Frog Forest!" cried Cream. "There are frogs everywhere! How will we know which one's yours, mister Big?"

The lush forest with green as far as the eye could see was not only filled with oversized plants, but at least twelve different species of frogs. Amy could hear them croaking all around as they grinded down massive vines that intertwined with the trees.

"Well…maybe Froggy will be with other frogs," Big suggested hopefully.

"I wonder if Chocola is with him…" Cream trailed. Amy jumped off her vines and suddenly looked thoughtful.

"They were kidnapped around the same time, plus they were together in that photo of Sonic…"

"But Sonic never had them…" Cream winced and grabbed Cheese. "Where do we go from here?"

"Considering we're in Frog Forest," Amy gestured to the nature around them. "Perhaps Froggy really is here… and maybe Big can ask the other frogs if they've seen Froggy or not."

"Yeah!" the round cat cheered, quickly running deeper into the forest to hunt down his best friend. Cream glanced up at Amy, but the hedgehog's face was buried in her palm.

. . .

"WHAT?"

The Chaotix followed their client's orders and headed north, landing themselves in a rather large forest. However, their latest instructions were a bit…puzzling.

"Here's your next mission…" the client repeated, sounding annoyed. "There are huge frogs in this jungle. Once they start to croak, it will start to rain and you'll be spotted easily. Get through the jungle without being detected by the frogs."

The device shut off once and for all, believing that describing the assignment twice was enough.

"What?" Vector guffawed a second time, glaring daggers into the device. "He wants us to dart around a forest and not be detected by frogs? What, does the real Eggman speak frog or something?"

"Relax," Espio ordered, taking the communicator back. "It's probably just a test of not being detected, and using frogs is just the safest way."

"Espio's just saying that because a ninja like himself will have no difficultly carrying out this rigorous task!"

"That's right- wait, what the? Charmy!"

"Heheheh…"

Vector just blinked and stared at Charmy. "I'm amazed he used 'rigorous' correctly in a sentence."

. . .

"…and thus, the expert team made their way into the dense forest, where they found herds of jumbo, rain-summoning frogs in their natural habitat!"

"Sonic," Knuckles growled, causing said hedgehog to snicker a bit. "That is completely unnecessary!"

"Sorry- just trying to set the mood before we get where we're going."

"Yeah, okay…So, uh…where are we going?" Knuckles asked, gazing around at all the trees.

Sonic leapt next to the echidna and snapped his fingers. "Heh, easy! Tails?"

"Well, Eggman's fleet was seen heading north," Tails explained, glancing up and drawing imaginary figures in the air. "So I've managed to calculate which direction was north so we could follow in the same direction."

"…which led us to this forest!" Sonic finished, spreading his arms for emphasis. "Ah, the sweet smell of nature!"

"I'd love to stay and get a whiff of the great outdoors, but we've gotta stop that fleet," Knuckles started edging toward a rather large vine. "So, I get we'd better get grinding."

"No need to tell me twice!" Sonic exclaimed, leaping into the air and landing on the vine in a perfect grinding pose. Knuckles sighed, but with a smile, as he did the same, with Tails ceasing his air drawings and quickly following.

Sonic clenched a fist and grinned, the friendly confidence surrounding him almost becoming palpable.

"Heh, heh…No way off the hook this time, Eggman…"

. . .

Once Amy and Cream caught up with the overly excited feline, their official search through Frog Forest began.

"This place is pretty fun!" Amy laughed, running through the loops that the forest floor somehow managed to curl into. "I feel like I'm going as fast as I was in Grand Metropolis!"

"Any sign of Froggy?" Big asked. He wasn't really paying attention to much else- just keeping his eyes strained for a sign of any frog. Cream was looking around as well, and once Amy stopped dragging the team through loops, she found something.

"Is…that your frog, Big?"

She flew over to a huge frog resting by a hill, and it was almost bigger than her. Big ran over in another fit of excitement and scooped up the frog, spinning around with it happily. Amy stopped running on ahead and whirled around.

"So…that's Froggy?"

"Oh, no," Big replied calmly, tossing the frog back onto the ground. "It just looked a lot like Froggy, that's all."

"You could've told us before bursting into a song and dance…"

"It's okay Big," Cream assured, patting his back. "I'd do the same thing if I saw that resembled Cheese or Chocola."

"Yeah," added Amy, glancing at the ground. "I'd do the same thing as well…"

. . .

Rouge flew her team across gaps and over cliffs, making their way into the forest. She put Shadow and Omega down, Shadow starting to walk away and stare at a supersized mushroom. Omega couldn't compute his actions, so Rouge flew over and laid belly-first on the mushroom.

"You're upset, aren't you?" Rouge asked quietly, Shadow avoiding eye contact.

"So?" Shadow sighed. "I won't get to the bottom of this if I sit around and contemplate…"

"It's better to contemplate on the go, then?"

"At least you'd be moving forward," Shadow pointed out, taking off as he said so.

The albino bat frowned as she and Omega began to follow him, not liking her odds. He _looked_ like Shadow,_ talked_ like Shadow, _acted_ like Shadow…but did he really have nothing to remember? Was he just a Shadow Android as well?

"I suppose that figures…" Rouge huffed, closing her eyes and folding her arms as she walked. "The only people that even bother with me are robots. Sigh…"

She then mentally took that statement back- no, Shadow was Shadow, and she would continue to believe so until incriminating proof as to otherwise dared to show itself. Shadow was the same Shadow locked up for fifty years, made a promise to Maria, and saved Rouge's life on more than one occasion.

A sudden crack in the sky caused Rouge to look up, but then turned her head to a frog sitting on the path. She had startled it, causing it to croak. Glancing back up at the sky, just as Rouge predicted, it began to rain.

. . .

Espio darted from hiding spot to hiding spot within the blink of an eye, not taking any chance of being detected. Vector attempted to do the same, but he was much less inconspicuous.

Charmy simply resorted to flying straight through the forest.

"Charmy, if you keep acting so careless, you're going to sacrifice the mission for us," Espio warned, hanging upside down from a tree. Charmy stopped in midair and shot Espio a glance.

"Oh, come on! We've been walking for a while already and we haven't even seen a frog! Our client's clearly just messing with us this time or something!"

As if fate intended to prove Charmy wrong, a huge forest frog jumped out of a bush. Espio caught it before it even made it out of the leaves. He flipped off the branch, dashed over to Charmy in a flash of magenta, and pulled him into the shadows before the frog even landed.

"Hmmm…" Vector pondered, hiding out in a log. "That is definitely a frog. Be careful, boys."

"Thanks for clearing that up, Vector," muttered Espio, he and Charmy emerging once the frog was gone.

"That was a frog? I totally thought it was a toad!"

Vector and Espio stared at Charmy for the longest time before beginning to dart back into the shadows. But as soon as it did, it began to rain…

. . .

"…let go of the ivy when it reaches the highest point of the swing, okay?"

"Shut up, Sonic; my wrist is stuck!"

"How could you get stuck? The ivy vine's in the shape of "U" for crying out loud!"

"He's right, Knuckles- that's a little ridiculous…"

Knuckles made a face, now dangling from his arm as he struggled the wrench his wrist free of the ivy. Tails told him not to struggle as Sonic turned away and snickered to himself.

"Sorry Knuckles- you've got a real bad streak going for ya-"

"Will someone help me down all ready! ?"

"You've got it, knucklehead!" Sonic chortled once more, crouching slightly. His quills sharpened, his feet shifted, and he curled into a ball and flew straight at the vine that entrapped Knuckles. His quills sliced through them with finesse…but Knuckles yelped and fell back to the forest floor with a little less finesse.

"Ooh…great warning there, Sonic…"

Sonic uncurled and alighted back on his feet, glancing over his shoulder and folding his arms at Knuckles. "You told me to get'cha down- you're down, aren't you?"

"Of course, you couldn't have done it in a simple way…"

"For me, that _was_ a simple way."

Knuckles unwound the vine from his wrist then tossed it aside.

"Well, it can't get worse than that, can it?"

Fate decided that then and there, it needed to rain.

. . .

Team Rose ran into many more frogs that resembled the one the power member was searching for. Both Amy and Cream were a little put off by the fact Big had to investigate every single frog that crossed his line of sight, but they could understand.

They were currently swinging from vines, Amy seemingly the only one enjoying it.

"Come on, guys!" Amy exclaimed, releasing her grip on her vine and landing at the base of a tall tree. "Can't do this back home!"

"Of course not," Cream agreed as she landed next to her. "But remember-"

"Take this seriously, I know, I know…" Amy looked away for Cream and up at the sky. "But it's hard to be serious when I'm able to_ not_ be serious for the first time, you know?"

"What do you mean?" Cream followed after Amy as the hedgehog walked on, still staring upwards.

"Hard to say…I've been getting kidnapped ever since I was eight, so I've been forced to deal with situations that no little girl ever should."

"Is it bad that I'm here now, then?"

"Oh, no," Amy laughed, patting between the rabbit's ears. "That's one of the reasons why this is different. Instead of waiting to be saved, I'm the one that's doing the saving! For once, I haven't felt useless, and…I'm having fun!"

"Me too!" Big stated abruptly, cuddling yet another frog in his arms. It began to croak, all three members of Team Rose staring curiously at it. A loud clap of thunder pierced through the serenity of the forest, and it began to rain. As the water started pouring on them, Amy motioned for them to get a move on.

"I guess we won't find Froggy or Chocola standing here, huh? Let's get a move on!"

Cream watched as Amy skipped through the puddles as they began to form, with Big plunking himself into them afterwards and causing quite a splash.

"Maybe I was wrong about her…"

. . .

"We weren't anywhere near a frog!" Knuckles complained, wringing out his dreads. "How come it started raining?"

"Well Knuckles," began Tails, who was looking much worse off that Knuckles was, with the rain causing his fur to severely droop. "There's more than one frog in the forest, and this is a huge forest...some other frog must've triggered the rain."

Knuckles made a small noise and turned away from Tails. "Whoa…you look like a stray non-sentient cat that was left in a downpour for too long."

Tails made a face and gave an effort to shake off the water. "I can't help it! Makes me enjoy being fluffy…but at least it doesn't look like an octopus or a squid is attacking my head."

Knuckles was about to reply, but then he did a double take. He relaxed a little, and even began to laugh. Tails, still looking worse for wear, laughed too, until Sonic sped by, who had purposely jumped into a puddle and caused a tsunami of a splash.

"Woo hoo!" cheered the hedgehog, his arms flying behind as he sent more water than necessary into the air. Knuckles was pretty sure that most of the water pouring down was from Sonic, and not even the rain. Sonic's red shoes continued to stomp into water, finding a bit of entertainment in doing so.

"Sonic, I thought you hated water," Knuckles said, using an oversized flower petal to try and dry himself off. "Shouldn't you be quaking like a leaf or hiding under an umbrella mushroom?"

"You're hilarious," Sonic huffed, splashing Knuckles and his flower petal just as he said so. "I don't mind rain, Knuckles. What I do mind is being submerged in the stuff. Brrr."

"You mean like this?" the echidna said dangerously, slamming his fist in a puddle and proceeding to give Sonic a taste of his own medicine. Sonic let out a screech and dove for cover behind a rock.

"That is not funny! I could've died!"

"You're totally fine!"

"It's different when you do it to a hydrophobic!"

"I would never do that to a hydrophobe…" Knuckles laughed, still grinning sinisterly. "I simply did so because it was you!"

"You two are impossible together," chuckled Tails, staring at himself in a puddle as Sonic and Knuckles had a water battle in the background.

He did look sort of look like a drenched cat.

. . .

"If Shadow can be so calm about this, then why can't I?" Rouge pondered to herself, unable to fly due to the rain coming down by the bucketful. "Is it because I remember and he doesn't…?"

"I inquire that you should tell Shadow what you know," Omega informed her as Shadow overlooked the forest once more to see where they needed to go. Rouge stared up at Omega, hesitantly shaking her head.

"I dunno…I really want to, but if I do, what if it makes him even more upset, since he won't have any idea what I'm talking about…"

"Either that will be the outcome, or it'll trigger who he really is and his memories will return."

Rouge took a deep breath and slumped. "I…don't wanna risk it. Besides, I've got a plan."

"How likely is this plan to pull through? Statistics, please."

Rouge gave him a puzzled look as her mind scrambled for an answer, but she didn't need to find one- Shadow returned just in time.

"I've got our route planned. Rouge has to fly us across a few gaps, then I'll take it from there and zoom down the path. Then we'll figure out what comes next."

"Had to scan the place to find that out?" Rouge giggled. She then gave a sad smile as she rubbed the back of her head. "But seriously, I can't fly while it's still raining, hon."

"It's got to stop eventually," Shadow grumbled, folding his arms. "Wouldn't a second croak from a logic defying frog reverse the process?"

"Sixty-five percent probability," Omega deduced, processing the possibilities. Shadow nodded, scanned the area very quickly, then pounced into a bush. A distraught croak rang out moments later, and the rain came to an abrupt halt. Shadow jumped out of the bush and casually walked over.

"Problem solved!"

Rouge did nothing but blink at first, but then laughed a little as she flapped her wings, rapidly drying them off. She then assumed flight formation, beginning to follow the path Shadow had mapped out. Omega skimmed across the still damp grass, hopping from one spot to the next until they reached a straight path. From there, Shadow took the lead and raced through the forest, speed taking over. As they all sped around, Rouge suddenly became thoughtful.

"Huh…kinda reminds me of the forest that was once around Prison Island…"

"Prison Island?" Shadow asked, and Rouge's attention snapped to him. "…Why is a whole island an entire prison?"

Rouge's attention to Shadow went down a few notches.

"Yeah, there was a huge security prison located there, surrounded by thick forests. But then it was blown up, and…I was on the island when it happened."

"How'd you escape?" inquired Omega. "This piques my interest."

"Well…" her gazed shifted to Shadow, but she looked away before he could catch her. "I guess I was saved in the nick of time."

. . .

It hadn't rained for very long, though it left all teams completely soaked. If Amy had been complaining about a stain at one point, it came as a shock to Cream that she was totally fine with being wet.

"My fur's all matted up…"

Big was the first to complain, trying to smooth out his ruffled purple coat.

"It can't be that bad," Amy said, wringing out her dress. "It was just a small downpour…but I wonder why it happened so suddenly?"

"Well, just in case it happens again...I've got my umbrella!"

He pulled it out and opened it, as if he needed to prove his point. Cream, meanwhile, looked over the edge of where they were. There was a path down below, and she got to thinking.

"I think we should go down there!"

Amy glanced down as well as shrugged. "Okay, then. Big?"

It confused him, but Big eventually realized what she meant and jumped off the side nevertheless. Amy proceeded to jump down after him, with Cream flying down and landing on top of the umbrella. Amy grabbed onto Big's arm as she fell, the three of them all falling down to a lower area of the forest.

They landed on something that resembled a rather large mushroom. Big bounced a bit as he landed on it, with Amy releasing his arm and for Cream to flutter off the umbrella.

"Huh…this area's a little more open than the previous ones, huh?" Amy realized, gazing out into the distance. There weren't as many trees as before, but the afternoon blue sky could be visibly seen, the canyon they just left rested on the skyline, and green stretched across whatever was left.

"It's really pretty," Cream stated, smiling to herself.

"Yeah, if Froggy really was taken here…well, I'm glad it was a place like this!"

Amy folded her arms and grinned. "I suppose that's one way of looking at it."

. . .

Now that the rain ceased to fall, Sonic created a whirlwind around his team to dry them off at sonic speed. Knuckles looked normal, Sonic made sure there wasn't a drop of liquid on him, and…well, Tails was definitely fluffy again.

"I look like a puff ball!" the fox yelped, trying to get his fur to flatten out.

"Relax," Sonic said, waving his hand. "It'll go back shortly, buddy!"

Tails moaned impatiently, but he knew that it wouldn't be long either. Thus, Sonic pointed toward the direction they were about to follow and marched on.

"…you don't know where you're going, huh?"

"Not a clue!" Sonic replied to Knuckles. "But that's what makes it fun!"

He then began to run blindly down the first path he spotted, Knuckles and Tails flying by beside him. The path eventually led up to a dead end, blocked by a tree. This did not deter Sonic, as he just jumped on the mushrooms sticking out and bounced his way toward the top. Knuckles chose to climb up instead, while Tails flew to the top with his extra fluffy double tails.

"Still have no idea!" laughed Sonic, hanging upside down on an ivy vine. "Are we even going north, Tails?"

"I think so," replied the fox, his fur now back to normal. "With the wind direction, the way the clouds and leaves are swaying, plus the color of this moss over here-"

"Yes, we're going the right way," grumbled Knuckles, grabbing Tails and pulling Sonic down from the vine. "Now's let's keep going the right way."

. . .

Team Dark stopped once again, not just to brutally destroy a few more Flappers and Egg Pawns, but to find out their next course of action.

"Where are we even going anyway?" Rouge wondered, performing a tornado kick on a Flapper. "I mean, we have no Eggman to follow since that last one was a fake, his base is destroyed, and we have no idea where the real one is located at…how'd we even end up here?"

"Omega-" began Shadow, punching into a metallic torso. "-calculated that we should go north. He said that a lot of activity was headed this way."

"My sensors never miscalculate," Omega stated, almost in a proud tone.

Shadow and Rouge went back to back, finding more of the robots closing in on them. The moment the circle of fiends took a step closer, Shadow's arms locked with Rouge's as he began to spin, the bat's legs cleanly slicing through the metal like thin air. Shadow finished his rotation and skid to a stop, releasing Rouge and smirking to himself.

"That was resourceful," Rouge said with a coy smile.

"Yeah…I just wish I weren't so lost right now…"

"Still feeling bad about having no memories?"

"Well yeah- but I was talking about getting out of this forest. We're seriously lost."

. . .

"Are you sure this is the right way, Vector?" asked Espio. Vector waved a hand, as if that was all it took to assure a fully trained ninja.

"Of course I am! Just follow my lead!"

"Well, following your lead a few times before developed some interesting results."

Team Chaotix was currently grinding down a long vine draping off of several trees, with the resident chameleon scanning every inch for a frog. He really had nothing to worry about- being so high up prevented any frog from detecting them. Even though the rain had stopped, it had still left the vines slippery. The Chaotix knew a frog was nearby, for that was the only way it could have suddenly rained…

They continued until they reached a giant mushroom, which bounced them when they jumped onto it.

"Cool!" chirped Charmy, beginning to hop around like he was on a trampoline. Espio's eyes flickered about, searching for any sign of an amphibian.

"Don't call so much attention to yourself. You know there could be-"

"Espio, you're acting a little paranoid," Vector declared, slinging an arm over his shoulders. "The frogs in this area are huge; there's no way we can miss them if they're around."

"I'm not paranoid- I'm being cautious. Paranoid would include glancing over my shoulder every time there's an insignificant sound."

Vector noted that Espio did not hesitate to turn and glance over his shoulder at the sound of the wind blowing.

Eventually, Espio deemed it safe to carry on, and Charmy took the lead. As the bee proceeded to fly his group over a gap, his head snapped to the source of a foreign sound.

"Did somebody croak?"

"Charmy!" Vector gasped. "What a thing to ask in the middle of the forest!"

"I think he's talking about a frog, Vector," Espio huffed, shaking his head. Charmy nodded.

"Yeah, what Espio said! It came from…well, down here!"

Charmy was actually going to set them down gently for once, but in the opposite circumstance, Espio caused the disturbance. He wrested out of flight formation, causing Vector to plummet downwards and left Charmy dumbstruck in midair.

"What're you doing? !" Vector roared, finding himself slung over a rock. Espio pointed up before going invisible.

"Anytime a frog croaks…" Lightning struck the sky. "…it begins to rain. And we're easier to spot in a downpour."

. . .

Knuckles was still hanging onto Sonic and Tails, and whether this was a good or bad thing depended on who you were talking to. A few stray Egg Pawns came into the area, and Knuckles felt the need to destroy them by hurling Sonic and Tails very forcefully.

"TAKE THIS!"

"Please, no!" wailed Tails, crashing into a clunker and breaking it on contact. "I can't take much more of this!"

"The power of friendship, Tails!" Knuckles protested, swinging Sonic repeatedly into a different Egg Pawn. "It overcomes all evil!"

"I think friendship would work better if my head wasn't being used as a battering ram!"

"I'm just taking your advice-"

"I never said use me as a living weapon, man!"

Knuckles dropped Sonic and finished off the robot himself, Sonic wheezing on the ground and rubbing his head.

"Why is that your preferred method of attacking? There're spikes on your fists for crying out loud!"

"I've no idea," Knuckles replied, staring at his palms. "It's like there's some force telling me otherwise…"

"Whatever…" Sonic arose to his feet and looked around. "We're never getting out of here. Whose idea was it to chase the Egg Fleet through a forest?"

Knuckles pointed at Tails.

"What? Hey, if you two didn't run off instantly, we could've thought this through a little more!"

"You were admiring the Eggman robot too long," Knuckles pointed out.

"But it wasn't-"

Thunder began to rumble, and lightning began to crack…

And once more, it started to rain.

. . .

"Wow, I can't believe this flower can actually fly!"

Team Rose was currently hang gliding via a while flower; Amy was gripping the stem, Cream hung onto her back, and Big held onto them both.

"That just makes this place even better!"

"I feel like I've become one with the flower!" laughed Cream.

"Um…it can't fly forever, can it?" asked Big, cautiously glancing down.

"I don't believe so, Big," Amy replied. "Why?"

"Just because we're flying above a really large and hollow stump."

As if on cue, their flower chose then and there to conveniently stop flying.

"Why do these things always seem to happen? !" Amy wailed on the way down.

They didn't fall freely for very long, since Cream quickly flew around and assembled the team into flight formation. Now being lowered at a safer speed, it was easier for the team to take a look at their surroundings.

"We've could've landed in mud," Amy realized, blinking as they descended into the dark stump.

A few leaves growing on the inside brushed against Big, causing the cat to giggle.

"It tickles!"

They finally reached the bottom of the stump, where there was luckily an opening to get out. Amy took the lead and rushed back into the rain, leading her team into the search once again.

. . .

Team Dark was still unable to move on, but very shortly they found out that the frog's croaking could be advantageous. They had rushed by one frog so quickly that it had startled the amphibian, causing it to begin to rain. Rouge sighed, as her wings were wet once again. Before she could despair for long, they all realized that the amount of rain was just enough to cause two large stalks to grow. The stalks then sprout leaf-like platforms, rendering them to get across safely.

"That's what I call miracle grow!" Rouge giggled, causing Shadow to roll his eyes. The hedgehog then proceeded to leap across the platforms, hoping to lead his team out of the forest and to the answers they so desperately wanted.

Or treasures and revenge, to be more specific.

The rain didn't last forever, as what was to be expected, and Rouge smiled as her wings began to dry off. The speed they were moving helped out too, but Shadow suddenly came to an abrupt stop, with Rouge and their one-ton robot ramming right into him.

"Why have you ceased moving functions?" Omega demanded to know, oblivious to the fact that he was crushing his teammates.

"Where were my moving functions supposed to go?" Shadow replied sarcastically, one of Omega legs lying on top of him. "It's a dead end."

"Oh, please move Omega…" Rouge wheezed, clawing at the ground before her. Omega complied, removing himself from his teammates and looking around. Shadow helped Rouge off the ground, and took a look at his surrounding as well.

And that's when he saw the white daisy.

. . .

"Don't you think that rain would make us harder to spot?" Vector asked, doing the best he could to follow after the still camouflaged chameleon. They splashed in the puddles that began to form by the second, and Vector was careful to watch just where the frogs' eyes were gazing.

"Do you really want to take that chance?" Espio's voice replied. "Just stay close to me, and the frogs shouldn't be able to spot us."

"How is that supposed to work?" Charmy asked, hovering over what was supposedly Espio's shoulder. "You're the only one that's invisible!"

"Ninja trade secret."

Espio wasn't completely invisible- if you looked closely, you could see the outline of his form. Vector tried to focus on that as he grabbed Charmy and leapt after the ninja. He seemed to know what he was doing, so Vector allowed him to lead for a little longer.

Espio ran up and down the weaving paths of the forest, dodging behind the backs of any frog that happened to sit in his way. He jumped across mushrooms and tree stumps, and swung across vines somewhere along the way. He did so with grace and agility…things that Vector and Charmy seemed to lack, considering Vector had trouble making the leaps and Charmy had his foot twisted in a vine.

. . .

The grass squished beneath the shoes of Team Sonic, Sonic leading the way but they weren't moving very fast. The forest was now dark, wet, and had a very disappointing atmosphere. It was a stark contrast to what it had been before. Surprisingly, Tails was the one with a leaf over his head, though Knuckles was slightly snuggled underneath it as well.

"Since when does it rain on adventures?" Sonic questioned, more to himself that to his teammates. "That's, like, the one thing that rarely happens on adventures!"

"I dunno," Tails shrugged, shifting under his leaf. "It was much more fun the first time around…"

"It wasn't cold last time, either," Knuckles sighed through his chattering teeth. "The frog that caused this can't croak forever…"

Sonic did nothing but mumble incoherently, picking up his speed a bit. It was probably dangerous to run at top speed, because the hedgehog was not immune to slipping on wet ground. Luckily, they didn't have to go far to find…a flower?

Whatever anyone was feeling before that point was instantly replaced by confusion. Sonic felt the need to splash over and poke the flower.

"It looks like it can…fly!" Tails exclaimed. "Sonic, you should be able to get it going with your Tornado jump!"

"You want me to fly a flower-copter in this weather?" Sonic gasped, gesturing to the sky. A frog's croak rang out, and the rain stopped once again. Knuckles and Tails promptly discarded their giant leaf. "…never mind."

Sonic encircled the flower several times until a blue funnel uprooted it right out of the ground. It hovered above the ground slightly, and Sonic jumped at it, pushing off the cliff and finding himself dangling from a flower stem at a severe height in the air. Tails and Knuckles grabbed on as well, and Sonic took in the situation.

"…hmm. Of all the things I've done in my life, flying a flower up to a giant hollow tree stumps get a big fat sticky note at the top of my "Craziest things ever" list."

"What other lists do you have?" Tails asked, out of curiosity.

"Well, at the very top of my "Worst near deaths ever" is that time Knuckles almost crashed our spaceship into the ARK-"

"You're really _never_ going to get over that, are you?"

"Dude, that's the only time, after all my endeavors, that my life actually flashed before my eyes. I'm sorry I can't let it go."

. . .

"I'm bored," whined Charmy, sitting slumped over on Vector's head.

"Well I'm starving and I'm not complaining."

"You have plenty of other things to complain about though, Vector!"

Espio eventually came to a stop at the base of a cliff, fading back into visibility. Vector and Charmy, in the midst of their argument, ended up crashing into Espio.

"Charmy, activate that flower over there," Espio requested, ignoring the fact that his team just bowled him over. Charmy flew up from the ground, saw the purple flower jetting out of the cliff, and happily hovered over to it.

"No problem," the bee assured, laughing as the flower began to bloom.

Then, a strong wind suddenly began to blow, causing the three of them to spiral upwards. Vector wasn't currently chewing any bubble gum, so floating safely back down wasn't an option. It was then that Espio saw a white flower hovering next to them, and instinctively thinking, he grabbed onto it.

"If you two value your lives, grab onto me!" cried Espio, struggling to hang onto the flower himself. Charmy grabbed Vector and tossed him toward Espio, the crocodile latching onto Espio's boot. Charmy then flew over and clung to Vector's tail.

"Please tell me you know how to steer that thing!" Vector begged.

"We've just gotta go with the wind!" exclaimed Charmy. "And look on the Brightside- it stopped raining!"

"Yeah, now we just need to make sure we don't splatter into the ground."

. . .

"What an amazing flower!"

Rouge's outburst was not an understatement- Team Dark was currently using that flower to fly themselves to a higher part of the forest.

Though it was a little ridiculous- especially considering Shadow was the one actually steering the thing.

"This flower is engineered like a helicopter," Omega announced. "It should be sufficient enough to get us where we need to go."

"Where we need to go…" Shadow trailed, looking for a good place to land. "..is definitely the question."

He then released the flower without warning, Rouge screaming and Omega letting out a few inaudible beeps. Shadow simply yawned and pointed downwards.

"Calm down- do you really think I did that without reason?"

"I wouldn't put it past my internal processor."

As a low growl built in Shadow's throat, Rouge glanced down, and realized that they were passing through the very same stump as the teams before them had. Shadow extended his hand and flew down like a superhero, while Rouge and Omega had a rather bumpy fall, landing on the large leaves and being flung back into the air. Rouge eventually had enough of being battered around and simply resorted to flying- Omega, unfortunately, didn't have this option.

CLUNK!

"That would be painful if I wasn't made of metal."

. . .

After one trip on a flower, Team Sonic was not quite ready for another one.

Well, too bad for them.

"I'd hate to say I'd rather take the rain," Sonic huffed, turning away from the plant.

"You're the only one who can fly it, Sonic," Tails pointed out. "Knuckles and I are unable to launch it into the air…"

Sonic scratched his head as he pushed around a smaller leaf with the toe of his shoe. "Um…can't you just fly us over there?"

"No, it's a little too far…I might be able to make it by myself and maybe one person, but there's no way I'd make it with you both."

"A round trip, maybe?"

"_Sonic."_

Sonic glanced at Knuckles for help.

"Nuh-uh. I can't glide up- only down. I can't defy gravity like Tails can…and apparently you can with a flower."

"Fine," was the only word Sonic released before disappearing into a blue blur. Bringing the flower into the air, Sonic grabbed on again, along with Tails and Knuckles. They all looked around for a spot to land, but just like the others, that giant mushroom was too mind-boggling to ignore.

"Wow!" gasped Tails. "I've never seen a mushroom that big before!"

"I've got big mushrooms on my island…but not that big!" exclaimed Knuckles.

"Just hang on guys!" Sonic pulled left on the flower, causing it to descend. "The flower's headed straight for it!"

It was a bit of a crash landing, since Sonic somehow managed to smack him and his teammates against the side of the stalk. He released the flower, causing it to fly away once more. The trio peeled off and landed on a platform.

"Sonic, you're never driving a flower again," Knuckles groaned, dusting himself off. Sonic wasted no time in copying Knuckles.

"I certainly hope I don't have to…sheesh!"

Once everyone was thinking straight, Sonic pointed forward, and his teammates allowed him to lead the way.

. . .

Omega was currently tuning up his minor dents as Shadow took the lead. He was a black blur, bounding off of trees in a flash and skipping over mushrooms and platforms in the blink of an eye. Anytime he stopped to determine the next path was when Rouge and Omega would catch up.

"Flying vegetation detected up ahead!"

"Should we make it fly again?" Shadow asked, staring at the plant curiously. Rouge bowed a bit and gestured toward it.

"Be my guest."

Groaning, Shadow picked the flower from the ground and latched onto the bottom. Rouge grabbed onto Shadow and Omega grabbed onto Rouge. The flower then got caught on the breeze, and Team Dark was whipped right into the air. They too were beginning to fly around the giant mushroom, and naturally Rouge was the one to notice.

"Look at the size of that mushroom! Never seen one so big…"

"The winds are taking us straight to that mushroom," Omega realized after analyzing the wind direction.

Shadow struggled to maintain control of the flower, but eventually he got the group close enough to a place to land. They alighted on a platform jetting out of the mushroom, and now they just needed to make their way up.

"Let's go," said Shadow, swinging across vines and maneuvering over the gaps. Rouge giggled and simply flew across while Omega managed to effectively swing on the vines as well. Shadow hurried forward, bounding off a rail and beginning to grind on a different vine. Rouge followed him shortly, with Omega taking up the end.

. . .

"Hey…we're actually flying!" Charmy realized, the flower the Chaotix was hanging onto now suddenly soaring to new heights. Espio finally managed to get it to go where he wanted, and Vector was actually impressed.

"Espio sure is handy…Thanks, Espio!"

Espio simply shrugged- Vector rarely complimented him, so he wasn't sure how to react.

"Well…don't thank me yet," he finally said, looking down. "We might be in for a rough landing."

The flower began to descend, so Espio just let go. Vector and Charmy were caught by surprise, the two of the beginning to plummet.

"Charmy, flight formation!" Vector yelped. Charmy nodded, quickly grabbing Espio. He lowered down to Vector, who grabbed Espio as well.

"I'll take the lead!"

Charmy descended downwards, not realizing he was slowly bringing his team into a large stump. Vector and Espio brushed against the leaves, causing Vector to sneeze and breathe fire. Espio twitched and pulled up his legs, even though Vector was still attached.

"Watch where you're aiming that."

"Sor-ry! You know what pollen does to me…"

"They're_ leaves_, Vector."

"Well…there was _something_ on them."

When they reached the bottom of the stump, they shifted into speed formation, and Espio bolted off.

"That was relaxing, but now we're back to the mission…"

"Look out for frogs, boys," Vector agreed, looking ahead. "We've come too far already…"

. . .

Team Dark was now at the base of a tall tree, running around it several times to dispatch the robots that had taken shelter there.

"Where do we go from here?" Shadow wondered, kicking the head of a robot clean off.

"It's too high for me to fly you boys up…" Rouge trailed, fiddling through a bush. "…but hey! I found a spring!"

She jumped onto it, ascending into the air and onto the top of the tree. Once Shadow and Omega finished with the robots, they bounced off the spring and took off after Rouge. Shadow took the lead again and began grinding on "mysterious vegetation" once more, as Omega put it. It was easy to see that they were at the top of the forest, considering there were beautiful flowers, trees, and various other plants as far as the eye could see. Rouge smiled as they continued the descent.

"I guess I was wrong," she smirked, her expression not faltering even when it began to rain. "This place is better than the forests on Prison Island!"

"It is very impressive, if you look at it from a nature angle," Shadow admitted, jumping off the vine and peering over the edge of the tree they now stood on. "Hard for me to judge though- I haven't seen many forests in my lifetime."

Rouge gave him a light punch in the arm. "Oh, stop. Just enjoy it- remember what I said?"

"First time for everything?"

Rouge winked. "Always, hon."

. . .

Team Chaotix didn't have too much trouble after falling through the stump- they grinded on vines and darted over tree stump paths.

But Espio stopped them once again. Vector already began to ask what the matter was this time, but Espio shushed him and gestured to the path ahead. It was filled with frogs and Charmy yelped.

"Oh great," Vector groaned, throwing his head back. "How are we supposed to get past that?"

"Just leave it to me," Espio assured, suddenly surrounded by a tornado of leaves. When the whirlwind of greenery died down, Espio was gone, but his presence wasn't. "Stay close."

Vector and Charmy did their best to stay by Espio; miraculously, it made it so the frogs couldn't detect them, even if they walked right in front of them! However, for precautious measures, Espio still jumped over and swayed around them just in case. Once they got through the hordes of huge frogs, Espio returned to sight and scratched his head.

"…isn't that same flower?" he wondered, walking up to the white flower and investigating it. Charmy pushed him out of the way and shook his arms excitedly.

"Who cares? ! Espio, make it fly! Fly, little flower!"

Espio gave Charmy a bewildered glance before uttering, "All right then…"

Espio ran at it, plucking it right from the ground and grabbing the bottom. The flower got caught on a gust, carrying the team into the air once again. However, they didn't get very far when they ran into something…huge.

"What IS that thing?" Espio asked, not quite sure what it was.

"I knew jungle mushrooms were big…but not THAT big!" cried Vector.

Sure enough, the huge fungus lumbering over them was indeed a mushroom. Needless to say, it was several times larger than the Chaotix combined…but they were headed to the top of it anyway.

. . .

Team Rose noticed that less and less frogs were appearing, and those that did appear were not Froggy. Amy figured that the part of the forest that the frogs lived it was reaching the end, meaning that it was possible that they were on the verge of being lost.

Of course, Amy wasn't going to share that information with Cream and Big…especially when they were distracted by robots.

"There are so many of them!" Cream cried, tossing Cheese and destroying three robots consecutively.

"Not for long," Amy assured, hearts flying around her as she spun around like a pink tornado. She aimed herself at all the robot, her outstretched hammer smiting them with gusto. Big helped out as well, practically fishing for robots and casting them into the valley below the treetops.

Right when there was just a few left, it inexplicably began to rain, short-circuiting the remaining Egg Pawns. Amy quickly twirled over in their moment of weakness. As they all shattered into pieces, Big opened up his umbrella once again and ushered his team under it.

. . .

The Chaotix spiraled up the side of the mushroom, Espio taking the lead and plowing through vines, robots, and behind any peeping frogs. He remained invisible the whole time, Vector and Charmy following the distortion in their vision.

"It's not much farther now, boys," Vector noticed, seeing their intended destination at the end of the path. "Keep it up, Espio!"

"With pleasure," came the reply, the chameleon it belonged to bounding and dodging away from frog eyesight.

A few minutes later, they had reached their rendezvous point.

"Good job boys!" cheered their client, somehow knowing they had completed the task. "You didn't even get detected once! Amazing!"

"Well, we couldn't have done it without Espio," Vector admitted, throwing an arm around his pal. "Looks like his stealthy and silent ways pulled through for us after all!"

"Yeah, Espio, that was almost as cool as that fight back in Grand Metropolis!" laughed Charmy. Espio just smiled a little bit.

"Glad I could be of assistance."

. . .

Team Sonic was a little more content now, peacefully riding down a vine and letting the vegetation lead them. Sonic dared to glance down and whistled at the view.

"This place is where Mother Nature has done her best work, I think," he chuckled. "There's even a river!"

"I never took you to be a guy that appreciates nature," Knuckles admitted, the ends of his lips turning up only slightly.

"Sonic might like to rush around all day," Tails explained. "But he does know when to stop and smell the flowers."

Sonic jumped off the vine and braked to a stop, coming to a small patch of daisies. He plucked one and gave it a sniff, winking at Tails.

"Heh, got that right Tails!"

Tails began to laugh as Knuckles shook his head and simply walked off. However, a frog suddenly lunged out of the bushes and pounced on the echidna, beginning to croak. Knuckles instantly wrestled the amphibian off of him and bolted for cover.

"No way! I refuse to get wet again and be blow dried by Sonic!"

"Lighten up, Knuckles," Sonic stated, lounging on a mushroom smack dab in the middle of the shower. "Don't let your parade get rained out!"

"I don't know, Sonic," Tails said, huddling next to Knuckles. "I'm with him on this one!"

"Okay…" Sonic hopped off the mushroom and trotted away. "But when it rains on your parade, look up instead. Without the rain…"

The rain slowly trickled to a stop, becoming a drizzle before halting altogether. Knuckles and Tails pulled out of their cover and glanced up; both of their eyes widening in surprise. Sonic simply smirked and closed his eyes.

"…there would be no rainbow."

And sure enough, there was one, and its colors painted the entire sky with its hues.


	15. Lost Jungle

Because We're Sonic Heroes

Chapter 14: Lost Jungle

"This isn't just a jungle…" Rouge said with distaste, watching her step. "It's a swamp, with yucky, murky swamp water. It better not get on my outfit."

"We've got more important things to worry about than a stain on your ensemble," huffed Shadow, surveying the area. "How'd we get here? We just went deeper into the trees- there's gotta be a way out somewhere!"

"Keep heading north," Omega declared, taking the lead and firing through any obstacles that got in their way. Rouge refused to put a foot on the ground, resorting to flying just over the grass. Shadow said nothing on the matter and followed Omega, allowing the robot to fight his way through the jungle they were lost in…

. . .

"You sure it's safe around here?" Knuckles asked, noticing the darker atmosphere that this part of the forest had.

"Nope," Sonic replied instantly, already fighting off evil. "But there was nowhere else to go!"

He kicked his leg into the air, sending the robot before him flying upwards. It landed back on the ground with a devastating crash, all of its parts cascading into different directions. Tails walked up to a pile of the debris and picked up a metal shard.

"These robots are built from a tougher material than the ones before…they might be harder to take out," Tails explained.

"There's a flaw in every creation, no?" Sonic asked, spiraling in the air and kicking another Egg Pawn's head clean off. "As long as we know what it is, we can win every time!"

. . .

Amy continued to trudge through the forest, though the frogs became scarce and the trees much more abundant, slowly transforming the area into a jungle. She pushed several vines out of her way as the sounds coming from her teammates became quite prominent.

"I wonder if Froggy is in this jungle…" Bug mused, still holding one of the ones from Frog Forest.

"Hard to believe he wasn't in_ Frog_ Forest," Amy sighed, kicked aside a fallen fruit.

"Maybe that means Eggman really did take Froggy and Chocola," realized Cream, wringing her hands together. "And we have no idea where Eggman went…"

Amy stopped running, Big and Cream losing their voice in that instant.

"He's got to show up again," the pink hedgehog declared. Her gold bracelet banged against her wrist as it shook. "There's no way he gave up after his weapons were trashed…he has to have some sort of plan B, right?"

Cream nodded as Big watched a cloud go by.

"Plus…that was an Eggman robot. The real Eggman has to be somewhere, huh?"

"Yes," said Cream, watch Cheese hovered over her shoulder. "I just hope it isn't too late…"

. . .

"There are many Chao living in the jungle…"

"Coulda fooled me- all I've seen were frogs!" Vector shrugged, interrupting the client's diagnosis of the latest mission. Espio silenced him with a look and told the client to continue.

"Yes yes…you must protect the Chao from Eggman! Find and protect ten Chao!"

"Ten Chao? Sounds a little like the first mission he gave us with the crabs," Espio deduced, putting the communicator away. "Hopefully Charmy won't find extra and feel the need to hurl them at us!"

Charmy folded his arms and stuck up his nose. "You wouldn't listen to me! Karma, dude!"

"Whatever…" Espio started running along a log to the right side of the path. "Let's get to work."

"Couldn't have said it better myself!" Vector laughed, following his team into the deeper parts of the jungle…

. . .

Rouge gladly flew her team to the top of a tree- anything to get farther away from the looming swamp water below.

"Ah, I can get used to this…" she sat on an extended branch and smirked, swinging her legs.

"Yeah, well get your feet back on the ground. We're not hanging around here all day," Shadow ordered, Rouge snickering at his unforeseen puns. Regardless, she jumped down and gestured for Shadow to take the lead.

With a brief waver in the air, Shadow rushed onto a vine, grinding down and looking out for any place of interest. Omega said to keep going north…but how was Shadow supposed to know where that was? He didn't have a compass in his head like Omega.

"This looks suitable," he muttered to himself, jumping off and landing on an outcropping of land. He prepared to sprint down the path ahead, but instead he was forced to swerve off course due to an interruption.

"That thing is huge!" Rouge exclaimed, floating down next to a snarling Shadow. He stood crouched in a ready position, eyeing the robot and taking in all its details.

It was made of silvery blue steal, with red rings keeping its joints attached. However, the main aspect about the metallic soldier was the fact that it wielded a very large megaton hammer.

"Well, well," Shadow said dangerously, still preparing to attack. "Looks like there's finally a worthy contraption of the doctor's after all!"

. . .

Sonic slid on his knees, riding the damp grass as he cruised under the hulking exterior of the Egg Hammer. Knuckles jumped after him, slamming Tails and his fist into the metal soldier, only to be smacked away by the hammer it wielded. Knuckles somersaulted backward, rose dirt out of the ground, and ended up slamming into a tree. Tails rolled out of the way of the mallet as Sonic flipped behind the robot, landing on its head with his hand and springing off, getting the machine to smash its own armor.

"Heh, that was a _smash_ hit, huh?"

"I'll take getting thrown into a tree than your puns any day," Knuckles grumbled as he shook off the dirt. Sonic alighted back on the ground and helped Knuckles up.

"C'mon, that was a good one!"

"We'll discuss your humor after we trash this clunker…"

Knuckles tightened his grip with Sonic and began to spin him around, hurling him straight at the torso of the robot. It raised its hammer to swing at Sonic like a baseball, but Tails latched himself onto the cudgel and pulled it out of Sonic's line of a fire.

Somewhere during the process, Sonic curled himself into a ball and began charging light. Knuckles grinned as Tails continued to make sure the hammer was rendered useless.

"Ready? GO!"

The Blue Blur struck with the force of a cannonball, leaving a pretty decent hole gaping in the middle of the machine's torso. He emerged out of the other side looking victorious, with Tails releasing the hammer and flying out of the way of the explosion that followed.

"Now, you can't say that wasn't a blast, eh Knuckles?"

Knuckles proceeded to walk away.

. . .

"I thought I just heard something…"

"You're just hearing things, Espio."

"I know I just heard something!"

Espio braked to a stop, holding up his hand and silently scanning the area. Vector waited impatiently for him to finish while Charmy buzzed over his shoulder.

"Why'd we stop?" he asked innocently.

"Espio thinks he heard a Chao."

"I know I did!" Espio insisted again, now searching through a bush. Vector eventually started searching too, but Charmy's impatience caused him to fly on ahead. There, he found the Chao…about to be squashed by the head of a giant mallet.

"AUGH! C'mere, little Chao!" Charmy shrieked, flying at it as fast as his little wings would take him. He managed to grab the Chao with a safety tackle, but was smacked by the hammer himself. "Woah!"

He tumbled into a large pink flower, his helmet getting spun around in the process so it was backward. The robot that owned the hammer made his way closer to Charmy, with the bee cluelessly looking around for help. He couldn't fix his helmet, at risk of letting the Chao get away.

"Vector! Espio! We've got a situation here!"

Vector whirled around instantly and rushed over while Espio's head popped out of the bush. Charmy was flinching away from the robot, refusing the let go of the Chao that it so desperately wanted.

"Have a bonk, punk!" Vector cried, leaping into the air and crashing his fists down. The robot malfunctioned instantly, Espio darting over and scooping up Charmy and the Chao. As Vector held off the machine, Espio spun Charmy's helmet back into place and held him outwards.

"You all right?"

"Yup!" Charmy assured, showing Espio the Chao. "Looks like you were right about hearing the Chao!"

"Of course. Did you doubt me?"

"Still full of yourself," Charmy uttered, wrenching out of Espio's grip and tossing him the Chao. Espio staggered with surprise as Charmy flew into battle to assist Vector. Vector was busy jumping left to right to avoid the hammer swings when Charmy arrived. "What's the plan, Vector?"

"This," Vector replied, grabbed Charmy's leg and bowling him at the robot.

"What? Again! ? …Whee!"

Charmy rocketed right into the robot, managing to unbalance it by knocking it on one foot. That's when Espio struck- Chao tucked under one arm, Espio swooped in with an extended fist and finished the fiend off.

"Well," Vector huffed, a bit out of the breath. "That's one Chao down."

"Nine to go," groaned Espio.

. . .

The golem that stood before Team Dark slammed its hammer into the ground, giving Shadow the cue to throw himself at it. His leg was extended, aiming at the tiny head that rested on the bulk of the body. Once his foot made contact with the robot, Shadow simply glanced off the metal, leaving the soldier without a scratch.

"It's bigger and stronger- go figure," Rouge muttered as Shadow fell to the ground with a thud. Seeing Shadow sprawled out in the grass, Rouge gestured to the metal monster and nudged her head. "Omega! Do your thing and attack it!"

"Annihilation!" Omega roared, and Rouge ducked down as soon as ammo began to fire. She glanced over to the target, only to see Omega's bullets ricocheting off the face of the mallet. Then Shadow arose again, shoving his shoulder into the back. He didn't leave a dent or make any sort of mark, but it did effectively tip the robot over.

"Rouge, Tornado Drill," Shadow called, gripping his shoulder. Rouge complied instantly as Omega cursed the ineffectiveness of his weapons. Rouge leapt upwards, spun herself into a miniature tornado, and smashed right down into the center of the robot's back.

Now _that_ left a dent.

"I do not need my weapons to destroy this worthless consumer model!" Omega declared, stomping over to the malfunctioning robot. He pried the hammer out of the cold metal hands and gripped it in his own, proceeding to bring the mallet down and turning the robot into scrap.

"Huh…" Shadow mused. "That is not at all how I thought that battle was going to go."

. . .

"You know how the green frogs cause plants to grow when they make it rain?" Amy asked, halting her team for the time being. She then gestured to a black frog sitting not too far away from them, giving them a look of murder. Cream felt her entire being freeze.

Big, however, did not the sense the danger and started to approach the distorted amphibian.

"Froggy? You look a little different!"

"Big, no!" Cream shrieked as Amy smacked her forehead. "Isn't Froggy green?"

As that was true, it wasn't THAT credible. After all, if Froggy managed to sprout a tail, why not have his color change too?

"Big, come back!" Amy exclaimed in a harsh whisper, trying to coax Big back to safety. "The black frogs can summon rain too, but their rain can kill-"

Just as Big reached out for the frog, it let out a menacing croak, and clouds began to gather in the sky. Hearing that the rain could "kill", Cream huddled toward Amy and tried to prevent any of it from landing on her. Big stopped approaching he frog and glanced around…before the plant-filled ground beneath his feet completely disintegrated. Big ended up falling through, and as Cream forgot the killing power of the rain and flew over to help, Amy heaved a sigh.

"…plants. It can kill plants."

. . .

"What's wrong, Sonic? No wisecrack about this rain?" Knuckles huffed, watching as the hedgehog observed the area around them.

"Not now, Knuckles…something's wrong."

"What is it, Sonic?" Tails asked, hovering over his friend's shoulder. Sonic simply gestured to the plethora of plants that lingered around the path ahead. The rain suddenly began to come down harder, and the trio watched as some of the plants started to die. Several shriveled up and crumpled to dust while others simply wilted and turned a sickly brown. Sonic notably frowned.

"Huh?" Knuckles questioned the phenomenon, scratching his head. "I thought that the frogs' rain helped the plants grow…?"

"That's what I thought," Sonic said, nodding. "So what's going on now?"

"That's because it's probably the work of a black frog."

Sonic and Knuckles turned to face Tails, wordlessly demanding more of an explanation.

"Green frogs summon rain that helps plants to thrive," Tails explained upon seeing their expressions. "To balance with that, there are black frogs who summon rain that is hazardous to plants and can kill them instantly. I think there's a chemical or something in it that is harmful to certain metals as well."

"Black frogs?" Knuckles asked, waving it off. "It if really was the work of a black frog, how come we haven't seen one yet?"

"It's just like back in the forest," Sonic pointed out. "There's gotta be more than one out here…"

"Exactly…and they're really dangerous, so it'd be better if we didn't run into any," Tails concluded, beginning to walk down the path filled with deceased vegetation.

. . .

Team Dark had made some impressive tracks since their duel with the giant soldier, but somewhere along the way, it had begun to rain, and they quickly noticed that it had the opposite effect than it had before.

"This can't be the work of green frogs, then…" Shadow trailed, watching as a daffodil slowly began to wilt and decay into nothing. Rouge looked around curiously, wondering about the secret behind the lethal rain as well. She walked in front of a bush, only for a black frog to pop out and land on her head.

"AIIII!" she yelped, Omega proceeding to whacking it off- and effectively knocking Rouge down as well. Rouge groaned as her eyes rolled upward, watching the black frog leap away. "That must've been it... Why would the black frogs do this?"

"It's just the way they are," Shadow explained. "Every act of creation is an act of destruction, and vice versa…where there are green frogs to make plants grow, there are black, poisonous ones to kill them off. So is the balance of life."

"For a hedgehog with no memories, that was oddly profound," Rouge noted, to which Shadow simply shrugged.

"Functions refusing to…function!" Omega suddenly blared, Shadow and Rouge turning to him instantly. The rain seemed especially hard on him as well- considering it was apparently messing with him. Shadow and Rouge quickly dragged him under a leaf, preventing him from getting any wetter.

"Looks like we've got more than a rusting problem," Shadow observed, not liking the odds. "Apparently whatever Eggman makes his robots out of is susceptible to the acid rain as well, just like the plants…"

"Then we've got to be extra careful," Rouge said seriously.

. . .

"Boy, what a mess!" complained Charmy, fruitlessly trying to shake the rain off of him. Although they hadn't been around a frog when it began, Espio had caught sight of a black frog afterwards, and he didn't like the looks of it.

"So this is what causes the rain…"

"We already know that!" Vector scoffed. "Frogs croak, they summon rain."

Espio muttered something as he folded his arms. "Sure, Vector, but I bet you didn't know that the black frogs cause poisonous rain?"

"Yeah, I knew that," Vector stated nonchalantly. "Seriously- who doesn't by this point?"

"The rain is killing those poor plants! How did I not know about this?" Charmy wailed, kneeling by a wilted flower. Espio gestured to Charmy while Vector just waved it off.

Anyway, a few more steps in the discouraging rain led the detectives to their second Chao, which was sleeping on a leaf that was about to be disintegrated by the rain. Once they claimed that one, it was onto the third.

"I bet it's up there!" Charmy exclaimed, gesturing to the top of a tree. "Let's head up!"

"I think we should keep going straight ahead," Vector said otherwise, continuing to keep walking. Espio glanced between his two teammates before finally heaving a sigh.

"Maybe Charmy is onto something," he suggested, getting both of his team members to gape at him in shock. "It wouldn't hurt to check."

"Yeah, what Espio said!" Charmy agreed, grabbing Espio and Vector. He flew them up the side of the tree, landing on every platform on the way up. Once they made it to the very top, sure enough, there was a Chao waiting for them. It flew into Charmy's arms, making the bee grin.

"What'd I tell ya?" he chuckled, holding up their third Chao.

"Looks like you had a plausible hunch after all," Espio smirked.

The skies cleared, and the rain stopped…for the time being.

. . .

"What have we learned, Big?" Amy asked, impatiently tapping her foot.

"Black frogs are not Froggy."

"Very good."

Clumps of dirt decorated the cat's deep purple fur, but it was nothing to complain about, for Cream had saved him from the hole the acidic rain has caused.

"We'll, that's behind us now," Cream hummed, flapping her ears and ascending upwards in the plant-lethal rain. "Let's go!"

Amy grabbed onto Cream's shoes; Big did the same with hers. Cream carried her team up and around the tree, using the vegetation platforms that were still intact despite the rain. As they went higher, the rain eventually subsided, reducing the plant threat.

"I wonder why frogs that can kill plants live in a jungle…" pondered Cream, reaching the top of the tree and setting her team down.

"Maybe they're lost," Amy replied casually, shrugged as she walked past Cream. "It's not the most bizarre thing I've ever seen."

She then grabbed onto a vine and began swinging through the branches. Cream took off after her, still airborne, but Big continued hunting through a bush for Froggy. Cream noticed the cat wasn't coming and turned around.

"Big…?" she began, not wanting to disturb the cat from his hopeful yet pointless search. "You do know that Froggy isn't in this forest, right?"

Big pulled his head out from the bush and blinked curiously in the direction of the flying rabbit.

"Huh? If Froggy is not here…then why are we?"

"We're trying to get out of here so we can find Froggy," Cream explained. "Someone framed Sonic for stealing Froggy and Chocola, because he told me he had no idea what I was talking about…"

She pulled out their only clue- the newspaper picture clipping. Upon examining it once again, she showed it to Big.

"Now that I look at it again, there is something…off about him. It's got to be a set up! And the only one who would do that to someone as nice as Mr. Sonic is…well, Doctor Eggman! At least, that I know of…"

Big rummaged through the bush one last time before turning around, giving Cream a nod, and setting off after Amy.

. . .

"Now we know those black frog are extra dangerous. Don't go anywhere near them," Shadow warned.

"No need to tell me twice," Rouge scoffed.

"Note has been registered in memory banks," Omega confirmed.

Team Dark had to be the most careful about the black frogs, knowing that one of their teammates could possibly be doomed by the rain. Of course, when they ran into a green frog, they were more than happy to allow that one to rain. The rain didn't last for long though- just lingering long enough to grow some foliage for them to cross. They darted across the platforms, swung across vines…and ended up in a herd of Klagens.

"These should be a piece of cake by now," Shadow declared, tossing his emerald into the air. "You two up for making quick work outta these guys?"

"Anytime," Rouge said quickly, already starting to pick Omega up. The three robots advanced toward them, until Shadow skid between them and his team, holding out his emerald.

"Ah ah ah, I wouldn't come any closer if I were you," Shadow warned, waving his trump card. "You just may find yourselves _out of control_!"

The Chaos Emerald bathed the area in light, activating Chaos Control as Omega fired away with his inferno blast. The three robots were turned to scrap in seconds, time returning to normal in the area. With a quick "Hmph," Shadow stored his emerald away and continued on.

. . .

"…and then Sonic said, 'Oh, I have no idea if it's dangerous or not! Let's just have fun! Who cares if we die? !'"

Tails hid his snicker as Sonic gave Knuckles a warning glance. They had been running, flying, and fighting for what seemed like a really long time…but it had only been a matter of minutes. Certain members of the team were beginning to get a little restless.

"Does it matter if it's dangerous or not?" Sonic asked, jumping to a tree branch and swinging from it. "There's no other way out of this jungle, unless you've got a better idea, Knucklehead?"

"No, I just meant-"

Sonic swung himself so that he was now sitting on the branch, staring up at the sky.

"We're supposed to be following the Egg Fleet…and even at top speed, I'm not sure if we can catch it now."

"What're you saying?" Tails asked, flying up to join him as Knuckles rested on a rock. "It wasn't moving that fast. I'm sure it's only a zone or two away!"

"Yeah…" Sonic started swinging his legs. "I guess we just gotta keep plowing through everything that's being thrown at us."

"Uh, sorry to interrupt the bonding moment," Knuckles called up. "But although I'd love to sit around, I'll only do so in front of the Master Emerald, which I can't get back to until Eggman's defeat, which we can't do until we get moving."

"But it'll be _dangerous, _heaven forbid!" Sonic yelled back down. Knuckles shrugged.

"I guess we've been through worse. But if something tries to eat me-"

"No worries, then!" Sonic sprung off the branch and bolted forward, almost flying across the ground. Tails blinked and flew off the branch as well, gliding alongside Sonic.

"Sonic…do you wonder why the Egg Fleet was launched? And why Eggman chose tomorrow to conquer the world?"

Sonic was silent for a brief moment, then smiled.

"Yeah, actually. But I suppose the reason doesn't matter, as long as we make sure it never happens!"

. . .

Vector swung across several vines, willing himself to reach the Chao that was located on a branch on the other side. He released at the high point of the swing, landing on the branch and grabbing the Chao.

"All right, that's number four!" Vector called down, leaping off the side in a single bound. "How's that?"

"Brilliant," Espio stated, looking around. "Now where are the other six?"

"We'll find them when we find them…"

The three of them stopped dead in their tracks when another Egg Hammer slammed its trademark weapon into the ground, causing a small quake. Vector was only two footsteps away from being smashed. Espio leaned to the right, glancing around the enhanced Egg Pawn. A Chao was floating behind it, too frightened to make a getaway.

"I guess we'll have to take care of this again," Vector said as he took a deep breath. "Stand back, boys- it's about to get hot!"

Espio moaned as Vector leaned forward and heaved out fire, casting the Egg Hammer in a haze of flames. It was distracted for a moment, to say in the least, so Espio took the opportunity to land a blow. He slid through the flames and onto the hammer, staying steady as the robot began to bring it up. He then leapt forward and threw himself at the head, throwing consecutive blows to the cranium.

"Keep it distracted!" Vector called, running behind it. "Charmy, you help Espio keep it busy!"

"Sure thing!" Charmy flew up and blew a raspberry at the clunker. "Hey rust bucket! Over here!"

"Not what I meant…"

Vector ran around to the back of the robot, where he dealt a powerful punch from behind. It left a dent and knocked Espio right off. The ninja did a flip and landed stylishly as Vector finally did the Egg Hammer in. Charmy then flew to where the Chao was and quickly comforted it.

"What's the matter?" the client's voice crackled to life, and as Espio pulled the communicator out, he already knew what he was going to say. "You're only half way there!"

"Hey, we're doing better than before, so don't chastise us for it," Vector boasted. The client seemed to think this over.

"Well…fine then. Good job, and keep going!"

. . .

Team Sonic ricocheted off the springs that were latched onto certain trees, starting to pick up speed in their journey. Knuckles' complaints about the way forward being dangerous had ceased, Tails was making sure to keep everyone on the right track, and Sonic was purely focused on getting out of the jungle.

"I like trees as much as the next guy, but I need a change of scenery!"

"What else do you want to see?" Knuckles inquired. "It's not like we haven't been to the beach, a city, a city-sized casino, a canyon, or a forest already!"

"Maybe we can go to a nice ice place!" suggested Tails.

"I wouldn't mind an ice place- they're always nice to look at," Sonic smirked. "Though the lack of friction is a bit of a turnoff-"

Sonic was cut off midsentence, by suddenly being knocked off the path, spiraling into the air and landing surprisingly softly in a bush. Tails cried out his name as Knuckles growled over his shoulder, welcoming another hammer-holding robot to the area.

"Time for a round two, huh?"

Knuckles whirled around and slammed the side of his fist into the side of the hammer, stopping it from scoring another hit on any of his teammates. The robot looked decently surprised for a moment, until Tails flew up from behind and started kicking him repeatedly.

"That's for sneaking up on Sonic, brute!"

The Egg Hammer pushed Knuckles to the ground and swung around to fling Tails off of it, followed by twirling its hammer overhead. Tails instinctively flinched while Knuckles braced for impact, just in time for Sonic to skid back onto the scene and scoop them both to safety. There wasn't time to stand around though- he heaved them off to the side and began to run circles around the golem machine. Summoning a huge amount of wind, Sonic jumped out of the whirlwind, grinning as Eggman's machine was thrown into the air and gravity brought it back down…right onto a rock.

"You guys all right?" Sonic asked quickly, jogging over to where he had tossed his teammates.

"I'm fine!" "Just peachy."

Sonic assisted Tails and Knuckles off the ground and started off again.

"Those contraptions are really starting to get on my nerves…"

The pieces from the recently trashed robot crunched under their shoes as they ran over them, not giving it another thought.

. . .

Once Cream had clarified the situation to Big, the cat was back in action. He took the lead a few times, smiting robots with his fishing pole as if it was a sword. Amy, who hadn't taken much note of Cream and Big's brief absence, simply nodded, impressed with Big's new bravado.

"That water looks really murky…" Big noticed, running over a ramp that propelled the team across the water.

"It's probably from the bad rain the black frogs caused," Amy suggested, skidding her landing and pulling out her hammer. "But no time to worry about the ecosystem- we've got company!"

Amy jumped into the air, lifting her hammer high above her head and bringing its judging swing onto the head of an Egg Pawn. It shattered into pieces on the spot, Amy landing and striking a pose. However, this attracted even more robots, and despite the team's efforts, they were dangerously outnumbered.

Cream backed away to avoid an attack, quickly glancing to her left and capturing a certain creature in her gaze.

"Hey!" she gasped, pointing at what see saw. "There's another black frog!"

Upon hearing her shout, the black frog croaked loudly, just as the Eggman robots began to advance closer with their weapons ready to go.

The loud clap of thunder glued them all to where they stood, and poisoned rain began to fall. Amy, Cream, and Big were totally unaffected, but one drop caused to the robots to malfunction.

Several drops forced them to utterly explode.

"Looks like that rain is not only lethal to plants after all!" "Amy laughed, high-fiving Cream.

. . .

"There he is…again!" Shadow exclaimed, jerking his head out from behind a tree. He eyed the black frog with contempt as Rouge tried to figure out what to do.

"As long as it doesn't see us, it won't croak," Rouge pointed out.

"Looks like it doesn't matter," Shadow muttered as he frowned, hearing the thunder rumble in the sky. Luckily, Omega was already situated under several leaves, perfectly safe from the rain…for the most part at least. "This is going to hinder our progress."

"Go without me. I can wait out the rain. You two should keep up the hunt for Eggman."

"We're not going to leave you, Omega!" Rouge declared, sitting on his shoulder.

Shadow was already walking away. "We're not…?"

"No, Shadow…" Rouge trailed. She gestured toward the clearing where other Eggman robots began to combust. "Do you really want that happening to Omega?"

Shadow sighed and shook his head, beginning to lean against the tree himself. Rouge grunted at Shadow imperviously and patted Omega.

"You're too valuable to lose to rain," Rouge said cheerily, trying to lighten the mood.

"That would be a disappointing way to be disassembled."

. . .

Team Chaotix were on strict look out for the final five Chao, willing to swing across vines, descend into the swamp, tromp through mud, and battle past Eggman's forces to please their client.

Despite their determination, Chao number six was sitting patiently on a mushroom.

"…does this count as protection?" Espio asked, plucking it from its content spot on the fungus.

"Sure," Vector said. "After all, we got to it before Eggman did."

It then began to rain once again, causing it to kill the branches that large marigold fruits were dangling off of. They rolled down the path, barreling into the robots that lingered around…also effectively saving a Chao!

"Now that's ridiculous," Vector exasperated as Espio scooped it into his arms. "Come on, where's the challenge?"

"We've taken out_ two_ Egg Hammers and you want _more_ action?" Espio asked, bewildered. "You should be glad that these Chao aren't in any mortal danger!"

"I just wanna keep it interesting! When we hit the newspapers, no one's going to want to read about the rescuing being done for us! What kind of a story would that be?"

. . .

It was true that Team Sonic wasn't all too thrilled with the fact that it was raining again, but they were less thrilled with the fact that more robots dared to approach them. Sonic and Knuckles quickly sprang into action with fists and feet flying, until Tails grabbed their wrists and yanked them back.

"What's the big deal, Tails?"

"Yeah, they could be scrap already!"

"Well, if you looked before you leapt into battle stances, you'd see that's already in progress."

Sonic and Knuckles exchanged a look before turning back to the horde of Egg Pawns, eyes widening in surprise when the rain began to make them combust and break.

"I guess they're just as fragile as the plants then!" snickered Sonic.

"I'm sure it's just the alloys they're made of-"

"Where was the rain when we were fighting those mallet monsters, huh?" grunted Knuckles.

"I'm glad it wasn't raining- then we would've missed out on a fun fight!"

"You and your fun, Sonic…even though you were whacked like a piñata into a bush?"

"It's all in the package," the hedgehog grinned, starting to run backwards as he moved away from Knuckles. He eventually did a spin in the air to straighten himself out, running forward into a white flying daisy. "Now let's fly!"

"So much for never again…" sighed Knuckles, to which Tails shrugged as they ran over to Sonic.

. . .

"There's another flying daisy!" shrieked Cream, running over to it as soon as she saw it. Amy slightly groaned, but as proven before, it was probably the only way they were going to move forward.

"Well, let's make it fly, then," Amy declared, swinging her hammer and creating a funnel of hearts around the flower. Just like before, it was plucked out of the ground, ready to take flight. Amy put her hammer away and grabbed onto the stem, Cream and Big latching on afterwards.

"Where should I aim this thing?"

"I dunno…" Big trailed, peering ahead. "…but it might be a good idea to avoid hitting a wall."

Amy winced and veered down a path, one that was surrounded by walls of vegetation on either side. The flower twisted and turned around the bend, poor Cream and Big on the bottom getting whipped around like nobody's business.

"This is making my head spin!" wailed Cream, clutching Amy tighter.

"I'm sorry! I'm dodging the walls and rapidly fire as best I can!"

"Rapid fire?" Big asked, glancing down.

Sure enough, Egg Pawns were taking aim at them from down below.

. . .

The rain finally subsided, and Shadow was off as soon as the skies were clear. Rouge and Omega tailed him closely, all three of them tired watching green fly by them as they ran. One could only take so many platforms, trees, vines and frogs.

Suddenly, Rouge stopped.

"A clearing…a way out, it's over there!" she cried, flying high over her teammates and gazing forward. "Only problem…it's across the swamp."

"What's the problem?" Shadow deadpanned.

"I'm not going near that goop! Ew…I'd need to shower twenty times!"

As soon as she descended, Shadow grabbed her wrist.

"Come on; you're holding us back!"

She reluctantly allowed him to drag her off, with Omega tailing after. Shadow leapt across a few lily pads, with a few green and black frogs murmuring at them, but not croaking. This was enough to make Rouge wince.

"Are they leading us down to the swamp? !"

"You said the clearing was this way- what're you talking about?"

Shadow released Rouge's hand to start swinging on the vines, but as soon as he did, a large splash washed over Rouge as a reptilian creature emerged out of the water.

"AAAAAAHHH!" Rouge yelled. "…I'm totally soaked!"

Shadow turned around to yell at Rouge, only to have his eyes widen at the sight of one huge set of choppers attempting to clamp down on the bat. A jaw that wide could only belong to a-

"Crocodile!" Omega exclaimed, grabbing Rouge's leg and blasting off.

…or maybe an alligator, but crocodile works too.

"I can feel it oozing in my boots!" Rouge complained, wiggling around as Omega attempted to keep his hold on her.

"Are you not aware of the crocodile trying to devour you for a midafternoon snack?" Shadow guffawed, swinging across the vines because his life and what little he remembered depended on it. The crocodile thrashed about, his powerful tail slamming into the riversides and his snout rapidly throwing water around. It was really intent on making the team comfortable in his stomach.

The crocodile snapped logs wedged between the walls in no more than one blow, and each time a thunderous crack and splash rang out, it made Rouge's ears flatten. Eventually she got over smelling like a murky swamp and focused on the feral monster hunting them down.

"Ooh, boy, that thing's got a lot of teeth…"

"We're almost to the clearing," Shadow assured, though that was more along the lines of being hopeful than fact. But miracles being miracles, Shadow swung on the last vine and launched himself into the air, Omega and Rouge on either side of him. The crocodile refused to take his eyes off the prize…only to crash snout-first into the Cliffside. Omega delivered several empty threats as Shadow chuckled to himself.

"Heh, I'll take that bumbling detective crocodile over that crazy one any day!"

Meanwhile, Rouge was perched high in the only tree in the clearing, seeing the edge of the jungle to the north.

"Just as Omega said…" she realized. As she gazed over the horizon, something very interesting caught her eye.

The blue blur and his cohorts.

Her heart skipped a beat- Sonic! Knuckles! Tails! She could ask Tails something she'd been meaning to, simply see Knuckles…and maybe finally she'd be able to talk Sonic into helping Shadow get his memories back…

But then again, thinking back, they might not even be happy to see her…especially once they saw her with Shadow.

"Hmmm…" she pondered, knowing they'd be out of her reach soon. "This'll be ugly either way…"

She jumped out of three and yelled at Shadow and Omega to get a move on.

"We'll cut them off, and maybe things'll finally get straightened out…"

. . .

With three Chao left out there, lost in the jungle, Team Chaotix kept up the search, not thinking about giving up even once.

"Can we stop now? I'm bored," whined Charmy.

"No, we're almost done," Espio assured, still on the alert for any soft mewling he could pick up. However, instead of a Chao, he found another heli-flower. Charmy snapped out of his latest complaining spree and urged Espio to make it soar, which the chameleon did, but they didn't go very far with it. They landed in a lower area of the swamp, where Eggman's creations were crawling around and hunting for a Chao.

"Let's stick 'em with a beating they'll never forget!" Vector chortled, popping a piece of gum in his mouth. He then blew several bubbles in the direction of the horde, sticking them all to the ground. This gave Espio the perfect opportunity to sneak around and trash them all. Charmy did his part by securing the Chao.

Espio stood up in the middle of all the scrap, dusting off a few stray pieces. He looked up at the path ahead, only to find another Chao, perched on a platform above.

"Charmy, flight formation, stat!"

"Up there, Espio?" Charmy asked, trying to see what Espio saw. Espio nodded quickly and latched onto Charmy.

"Yeah, I caught sight of a Chao up there."

"Wait for me!" Vector called, grabbing Espio's feet at the last moment. Charmy then carried his team up the platforms, trying to reach the one Espio had pointed out. Within a few short moments, they had reached the uppermost platform, and their ninth Chao.

. . .

"AAAAHHH!"

"Amy, please calm down!" Cream begged, though she was also worried…because who wouldn't be worried when projectiles were coming straight at you from all directions? It was a miracle they hadn't been struck down yet!

Cream narrowed her eyes in determination, nudging Cheese off her shoulder.

"Cheese! Go take care of them for me…please?"

Cheese blinked a few times before adjusting his bowtie and saluting Cream, flying down into the fray. He took out one robot simply by bouncing off its head. Grinning a bit, he ricocheted off a tree and barreled into the onslaught of Eggman's mechanical minions.

"Chao!"

All robots found gaping hole in their torsos- the last thing they processed before bursting out of existence. Cheese then returned to Cream's shoulder, feeling awfully proud of himself. Cream beamed with pride as Amy finally found a safe place to land.

"You were great, Cheese!" Cream cheered, hugged her friend.

"Chao! Chao!"

"Now maybe we can finally get out of here…" Amy trailed, looking back at the metal remains of their attackers.

. . .

After going quite a long ways with their flower-copter, Team Sonic was almost to the edge of the swamp-filled jungle.

Almost.

"All we have to do is get past this small area of swamp," Knuckles said calmly, already stepping on the first lily pad.

"There should be a clearing on the other side," agreed Tails, following the echidna. "From there, I bet we can determine where the Egg Fleet is going! Right, Sonic?"

Silence.

Tails and Knuckles traded deadpanned glances as they glanced back, seeing Sonic quaking like a leaf on a mushroom, nonchalantly trying to play it off.

"Sorry, I just got really cold and my legs are practically frozen! Ha, coincidence or what?"

"Or what," sighed Knuckles. "Sonic, you'll be fine as long as you stay on a lily pad or platform, all right?"

"I've got a really bad feeling about this," Sonic muttered, hiding the worry in his tone. He took up the back as Knuckles took the lead…but whether this was a smart move or not was debatable.

They were presumably in the middle of swamp when the crocodile swam up, its face gliding just under the surface of the water. Upset at missing its previous meal, it was out for another one…and about to find it.

"We're getting closer, Sonic," Tails assured the hedgehog, both of them still following Knuckles. However, Knuckles stopped when something black caught his eye.

"Um…is that the black frog the one you were talking about?"

"Yes," Tails gulped. He then started to whisper. "Don't let it see you, otherwise it'll kill the plants were standing on…"

"Can we keep going?" Sonic complained impatiently and loudly. Tails and Knuckles both cringed.

Needless to say, it caught the attention of the black frog, and thus it began to rain.

"Run! Run! Run!" screeched Tails, he and Knuckles beginning to book it. Sonic, of all people, stayed right where he was, dazed with confusion.

"Wait, what-?"

He felt the rain begin to pour down, quickly realizing it was the plant killing rain. He blanched, glancing down and noticing that there was hardly a lily pad under his feet anymore.

And if that wasn't enough, the crocodile chose then to furiously rise out of the water and swim straight at Sonic, jaws wide open.

"TAILS! KNUCKLES!"

Tails quickly flew down with Knuckles hanging from his feet, lowering down just enough for Sonic to grab onto Knuckles. He then whipped around and flew forward, Sonic's heels brushing against the teeth of the crocodile just as they snapped closed.

"I told you I had a bad feeling about this!" Sonic exclaimed, almost hysterical. "…I could've drowned!"

"You were about to be food for a crazed reptile and you're still worrying about the water? !" guffawed Knuckles.

"If it were any other circumstance, the crocodile I'd be worried about. But not now- step on it, Tails!"

"I'm going as fast as I can!" Tails yelled. "That crocodile is like a rocket!"

The crocodile jetted forward, almost devouring Team Sonic if it wasn't for Tails grabbing onto a vine and swinging upwards. Sonic was swung forward, yelling all the way.

It then continued just like that- the crocodile was determined for a meal, and Team Sonic was determined to live. They always_ just_ managed to avoid the unforgiving jaws of the crocodile, thanks to Tails' well-timed swings with the vines.

Eventually, they reached the edge of the swamp, where Tails swung them one last time and flew high into the air, as far away as possible from the swamp. The crocodile once again made harsh contact with the side of the cliff, finally giving up on his lunch for the day. Tails then descended into the clearing, with Knuckles panting and Sonic was making sure his heart was still beating.

"Wow, I've got way too much adrenaline right now, and that's saying something!" Sonic chuckled lightly, shaking his arms and legs. Tails then landed next to Sonic and rubbed the back of his head.

"You doing all right, Sonic?"

"Heh…" Sonic stood up and stretched, winking at Tails. "Usually I'm the one asking you that! But yeah, I'm all right."

"Man, I thought you were going to throw yourself into a panic there, Sonic, with the way you screamed our names," Knuckles hummed casually.

'It's not like you wouldn't have done the same if it were you."

"I would've," Tails admitted, if only to help Sonic prove his point. Knuckles shrugged, looking around.

"Well, whatever. Let's just get to some higher ground and plan our next destination."

"Ha, _plan_," Sonic scoffed, still running on the adrenaline he built up. "Who needs that? We're relying on opportunity!"

He grabbed Tails and Knuckles and took off toward where the sun was shining, ready to brace anything that came at them next…

. . .

Team Rose rushed through a small patch of mushrooms, glowing a bluish purple and sending a strange mist into the air. As always, Cream was mesmerized by the sight, but only Froggy was on Big's mind, and Amy was very intent on making their way out of the jungle.

"C'mon, we've got to reach the edge of the jungle soon…" she muttered to herself, scanned the area several times for any sort of sign.

Eventually, she came across a clearing not too far off, thus she quickly ran over and danced for joy- she could see the way out from there! That was easy.

"Excellent work, guys!" Amy exclaimed, hands on her hips. "Big, you were great with your fishing rod, and great use of Cheese, Cream!"

"He was happy to help," Cream beamed, with Cheese spinning in happy circles.

"Nothing can stop the three of us!" Big declared, laughing as they finally found a way out of the jungle. But unknown to them, they were being watched…or rather, detected.

. . .

The Chaotix had just found their tenth Chao, and they were told by their client to get moving to the next place. Taking orders as always, they forged on.

"We did a good thing for those Chao," Charmy said cheekily. "Now they're safe from that mean ol' Dr. Eggman guy!"

"Hopefully our next assignment will be another act of sabotaging the doctor's actions," replied Espio, staring straight ahead.

Vector, meanwhile, was drowning the conversation out with his music, his jams on full blast as he danced with every step. In the middle of a quick shimmy, his foot brushed against a rock in the path, also effectively causing him to trip. Espio and Charmy heard the massive thud that followed and whirled around.

"Moving to the music, eh Vector?" Espio asked, a smirk playing on his expression. Vector spat out a clump of dirt and pushed himself off the ground.

"Can it, Espio, it was an unfortunate misplacement of that rock…"

"You mean this rock?" Charmy asked, holding a cyan-colored gem in his hands. "Looks more like a piece of hard candy!"

As he went to try and take a bite out of it, Espio swiped it away in a flash.

"Fool! Do you not know what this is?"

"It's not candy?"

"No, it's a Chaos Emerald!"

"Whaaaat? !" Vector gaped, dollar signs filling his eyes again. "We can get a pretty penny for that thing!"

"No!" Espio grunted, pushing Vector away. "You have no idea how fortunate we are to stumble across this! It may give us an advantage in our next battle with Eggman or something!"

"I guess you have a point," Vector agreed, seeing the reason. "Just one of those is pretty powerful…"

"I think I should hold it," Charmy stated, snatching it back from Espio. "After all, I found it!"

"I tripped over it!"

"I don't care who holds onto it-" Charmy quickly tucked the emerald under his helmet and stuck his tongue out at Vector. "-There's another Chao over there!"

Espio pointed toward an area that was oddly devoid of any trees or swamp, with a Chao floating over the shoulder of a little girl.

"Should we go protect that Chao too? It may provide a bonus from our client-"

"Let's go, then!" Vector exclaimed, leaping over the bushes in a single bound. Espio followed him quickly, while Charmy was left wondering why they were the ones to stumble across such an important gem like a Chaos Emerald.


	16. Rose vs Chaotix! Sonic vs Dark!

Because We're Sonic Heroes

Chapter 15: Rose vs. Chaotix! Sonic vs. Dark!

The Chaotix jumped down from their perch where they were watching the Chao and cut Team Rose off from their route. Vector was the one to speak, preparing to take a casual approach to this.

"Excuse me, Miss, I was wondering if we could ask you something."

"If it's about a date," Amy scoffed, waving her hand and turning away from them. "It'll have to wait!"

Formalities gone.

"A _DATE_? !" Vector roared, fire threatening to spew out of his mouth. "You think this is a _joke_, you little brat? !"

"Now, hand over that Chao, nice and easy," Espio demanded, pointing at Cream. Cream instinctively grabbed Cheese and pulled him away from Espio.

"I bet YOU'RE the ones who took Chocola Chao!" Cream shouted, suddenly becoming upset. "And now you want Cheese too!"

"WHAT?" howled Vector as Big took a threatening step forward.

"It's not nice to mess with my friends!" the cat purred dangerously, Vector noticing his fists balling up.

Charmy felted the tension building up and simply flew in the middle of everyone and screamed, "Yeah! Time to rock and roll!"

"Sorry, but we don't have time for this!" Amy declared, trying to walk away. However, Vector grabbed her and held her back. "Let me go! This is _not _how you treat a lady!"

"It's not nice to make fun of my friends…" Big growled, towering over Vector.

"Technically we weren't making fun of-" Espio started to say until Big grabbed both him and Vector and hurled them into the nearest tree. Espio's eyes rolled around several times until he jumped back to his feet and produced several ninja stars, all directed at Cream, who was clutching her Chao for dear life.

"Forgive me, but this is our duty," he said simply, throwing the weapon in the girl's direction. Cream genuinely surprised Espio by twirled her ears and flying quickly out of the way.

"I've already lost one Chao…" Cream whimpered, still holding Cheese tight. "And I'm not going to let you take another!"

"You Chao thief!" yelled Amy, hammer held high. She leapt behind Espio and whacked him in the side, but although stunned, Espio landed quite nicely. He gave an uncharacteristic sneer and threw himself back at Amy, who defended against his kicks and punches with her trademark weapon. "You mess with Cream, you mess with me twenty times over!"

As Amy raged on Espio, and Espio did his best to dodge her swings, Vector was going head to head with Big, who was actually quite the formidable opponent. They traded blows, one striking and the other blocking. Eventually Vector was forced to dart away from a serious looking uppercut as he stuck some gum in his mouth.

"I'd better not hear another gum pun, Vector," Espio warned, holding off Amy's hammer.

"I wasn't _going_ to, but now this'll give him something to _chew_ on," Vector grumbled in return, blowing bubbles in Big's direction. Big ran right into them, his legs rendered useless as they were stuck to the ground.

"Uh oh…" Big trailed, slowly looking up as Vector charged at him, fist revved back. The cat took quite a blow, one that was so hard that it freed him from the gum. Big rolled on the ground, Vector walking up to him with his hands raised apologetically in the air.

"We just wanted to ask you something," he began, shaking his head. "But your leader had to make things difficult."

"That gives you no reason to be mean to my friends!" Big shouted back.

"We're just taking orders!"

"Whoever it is sounds like they're a mean guy!"

"We don't even know who it is," Vector shot back. "Though I do have a pretty good idea…"

As Vector mulled over his client's mysterious identity, Big stealthily pulled out his fishing pole and hooked Vector with it, snapping him into the air and effectively causing him to plummet back down.

Cream, during all this, was on her toes trying to keep Cheese away from Charmy, who felt obliged to steal a pet from a girl who was hardly older than he was.

"Hand it over!" Charmy exclaimed, rapidly shaking his fists. "That Chao's going to get us a bonus from our client!"

"No!" Cream yelled back, pushing Charmy out of the air. Charmy took this as a challenge and spun around, stinger extended and aimed at the rabbit. Cream easily hovered out of the way, resulting in Charmy getting his butt stuck in a tree.

"Aw, man! Espio! A little back up over here!"

"I'm busy!" Espio yelled back, still fending off Amy, with her anger at its peak. She had torn her hammer away from Espio and hissed, which made the ninja recoil a bit.

"This is your last chance to give up on kidnapping Cheese," Amy said, holding out her hammer in a threatening fashion. "And you've also got five seconds to give back Chocola!"

"We didn't steal anything!" Espio cried.

"Then why are you so determined to take away a little girl's pet?"

"Look, there's a huge lack of communication here; if I can just explain-"

"Explain this!"

Amy bonked Espio on the head, sending the chameleon into a spin. He whirled right into Vector, who shoved him violently out of the way and resumed his battle with Big. He went in for a punch on the cat's belly, but Big countered by bouncing Vector away. Big then ran over to violently beat the crocodile with his umbrella, but Vector picked himself up and breathed fire at the feline. Big instinctively flinched and held his umbrella away as Vector snickered.

"I guess you didn't think I was quite the hot shot, _eh_?"

Espio coughed obnoxiously in the background before landing next to Amy and turning invisible.

"Ooh, that's so unfair!" Amy shrieked, swinging her hammer around in all directions. "Come out and fight, coward!"

"Certainly," Espio's voice said with a challenging tone, Amy suddenly yelping and falling to the ground.

"Ooh…my head…"

"I'm still stuck in this tree!" Charmy screamed, fighting to get himself free. Cream refused to get involved with the violence…but she also couldn't stand to see Amy and Big get hurt like this, just to protect her Chao. This needed to stop.

"Get your head back in the game," Vector grumbled, yanking Charmy out of the tree just as Espio returned to sight. "We've gotta finish these suckers off with a doozy of a move!"

"Finish 'em off?" Charmy asked, bewildered. "I thought we just wanted the Chao."

"They've pushed us too far…" Espio said darkly, pulling out his samisen. "Now it's personal."

Cream assisted Amy off the ground as Big lumbered back over to them.

"Man, what are those jerks planning now?" growled Amy, brushing her bangs out of her face. "The nerve of Espio to kick a girl into the dirt…such lack of chivalry!"

However, Team Rose was literally pained to find out that they were about to be subjected to the worst attack known to man.

A recital done by the Chaotix.

The combination of drum banging, string strumming, and incoherent screaming manifested into physical pain and knocked Team Rose onto the ground, severely weakened. Charmy and Espio exchanged a high five as Vector was looking pretty proud of himself.

"Sorry ladies, we took it easy on ya! This round goes to us! Now for the Chao…" Vector chuckled, only to find Big hovering over him again.

"Not when my friends are involved," Big declared, knocking Vector across the clearing with a single blow from his umbrella.

"Just give us the Chao and this will all be over with," Charmy said calmly, meaning no harm.

"I'll never let you take Cheese away from me!" Cream yelled, tackling Charmy to the ground. The bee yelped and struggled in her surprisingly strong grip.

"Okay! Okay! I won't take Cheese!"

"We need to get that Chao to safety!" wailed Espio, diving in once again. Cream released Charmy and leapt out of the way, just in time for Espio to land on Charmy. Amy then finished the job by striking the pile of detectives with her mean mallet, not saying a single word.

"There's gotta be a major misunderstanding here…" Espio groaned, only able to meekly watch as Cream stomped her way up to the fallen Chaotix.

"You cannot have Cheese!" Cream shouted one last time, bonking each member of the Chaotix on the head with her beloved pet and friend before officially taking off.

The Chaotix were left in a groaning heap.

"Let's go, these guys are just asking for trouble…" Amy trailed, leading Cream away as Big gave Team Chaotix a warning glance. Vector and Espio slightly gulped.

"If you're running away, then we still won!" Charmy shouted, pounding his fists on the ground. "…What, can that be all?"

. . .

Team Sonic were fighting their way out of the jungle, unbeknownst to them that they were being watched from above. Rouge's eyes were filled with hope, but she refused to let it be known, while Shadow noticed the blue blur running just a short distance away from him, and suddenly everything clicked.

_He_ was the blue streak from back in Seaside hill.

_He_ was the hedgehog in the first vision the Chaos Emeralds had given him.

That hedgehog knew_ something_ about him, whether if it was a single moment, or his entire past.

"Look, it's that hedgehog," was all Shadow muttered, not allowing his true thoughts to become present.

"Wonder what the big rush is about?" Rouge asked genuinely. She then tossed in an extra comment to contain her excitement. Not just Sonic was down there, but Knuckles too… "Betcha those guys will end up getting my way and making trouble."

Knuckles was the one to finally glance up, breaking to a stop on the instant. Rouge caught his eye first, but his focus was quickly shifted to the black and red hedgehog standing next to her.

"Hey, isn't that-"

"Sonic!" Tails shrieked in disbelief.

Sonic placed a finger to his chin, his emotions only to be described as bemused to Shadow's sudden appearance.

"Huh, talk about stubborn and full of surprises…"

"Long time no see boys!" Rouge called, waving down at them. "Too bad you had to come all this way for nothing! We'll take it from here."

"What did you say?" grunted Knuckles, already becoming confused and furious around the bat.

"Sensors locked on Eggman," Omega bleeped irrelevantly. "Non-compliant intruders will be destroyed."

"Hmmm, didn't ya know?" Sonic asked, spreading out his arms. "We've got a date with Eggman too!"

"Is that so…?" Shadow smirked deviously, leaning forward. "Well then, it'll be a date to DIE for!"

"Hey!" Sonic prepared to spring. "That's my line!"

Shadow mirrored his look alike and did the same thing. However, when they clashed, Shadow instantly pinned Sonic to a rock. Sonic, not expecting this in the slightest, was instantly tipped off that something was not as it should be.

"Hey guys, chill out-"

Shadow tossed Sonic away, roughing him up a bit before he began to question him heavily. His plans were quickly interrupted by Omega's, though.

"Group led by a Shadow-like creature: Must destroy!" Omega shouted, firing projectiles in all directions. Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles all yelped and scrambled out of the way. Tails flew in the air, Sonic ran off to the right, and Knuckles dug into the ground, only to pop out seconds later and punch Omega in the torso.

"What a ruthless bunch!" Knuckles guffawed, landing and readying his fists.

"Sorry- no time for greetings," Rouge explained as she fought back with her feet. "Though it is nice to see you again, Knuckie!"

"Don't call me that!" Knuckles yelled, swatting at her. "What do you want with us? We're on a deadline, you know!"

"Well…" Rouge swept Knuckles' legs out from under him. "Shadow and Omega are probably en route to kill you. I, however, really need to talk to Sonic."

"Sonic? Why Sonic?"

"It's important!" she yelled back, catching Knuckles off guard. Rouge then coughed and put on a flirtatious look. "But of course, you probably don't want me focusing my attention on Sonic when it could be on you, huh?"

"No, no, NO," Knuckles grumbled, turning Rouge in Sonic's direction. "He's over there. Feel free to chat him up."

Sonic already had his hands full with Shadow, and Rouge was wise not to get in the middle of it…but perhaps, maybe it would have been for the best.

Shadow fought furiously, anger fueled by the fact that he knew little about himself and that his blue look-alike had some knowledge about him. Sonic refused to talk, believing that Shadow was Shadow, and that he remembered everything that occurred between the two hedgehogs. The rivalry, the world on the verge of being destroyed, the change of heart, and that last battle, where Shadow sacrificed himself to save everyone…including Sonic.

"What's the matter?" Shadow questioned, running around Sonic and catching him in the middle of a black whirlwind. "You seem like the chatty type, no?"

He then stopped running and performed a deathly uppercut on Sonic, sending him flying a long distance away. Sonic groaned, picking himself up off the ground as Shadow approached once more. He didn't seem to recall his heroic deeds…

It was almost like he reverted back to his revenge-loving, former self.

"Not the best way to greet those you haven't seen in a while," Sonic huffed, resorting to striking Shadow across the face with his foot. Shadow staggered away, surprised at hedgehog's strength and reaction, but more bewildered by his comment.

"What…?"

"Don't you remember us, Shadow?" Tails asked, ducking under the onslaught of projectiles Omega was dishing out.

"You'd think he would," Knuckled added, throwing himself onto Omega and punching at the exterior. "Being the ultimate life form and what not."

"How…how do you know that? How do you know me? !"

Shadow wasn't sure what to say after that, so while he was trying to sort his thoughts out, Rouge swooped in and placed Sonic off to the side. The hedgehog swung at her for a few moments before he realized that she genuinely wanted to talk to him.

"What's going on here, Rouge?" Sonic asked, ceasing to flail his arms and demanding answers. Rouge's ears drooped as she scratched the back of her head.

"All right, I'mma make this short- Shadow's got amnesia."

"…Mmm," Sonic muttered, nodding. "That's why he's acting like this…but why is he demanding answers from me? There's no way he could remember me?"

"The Chaos Emerald gave him a vision," Rouge explained. "Apparently you were in it, and along with Eggman, he thinks you can answer some of his questions."

"Heh, even with amnesia, I'm too prominent to forget," the hedgehog chuckled, looking over his shoulder as Shadow was currently sparing with Knuckles. "Still, Rouge…haven't _you_ told him anything?"

"I was waiting…" Rouge admitted, shamefully hanging her head now. "I thought that you'd somehow stir up some old memories…and I was half-right."

"I think you need to inform him of what you know _now_, or else- HEY!"

"Tell me _what_?" Shadow asked dangerously, hurling Sonic across the clearing like he was nothing. Rouge gasped and turned to Shadow, unsure of whether to castigate him for his actions, or to join him so he wouldn't think anything was wrong. However, Knuckles made her choice for her by coming up from behind and knocking her to the ground. Shadow hissed and prepared to help her, but Sonic bolted back into action, both pairs of feet frantically flying and hoping to make contact with the other.

"So, Shadow," Sonic began dangerously, ducking down as Shadow performed a roundhouse kick. "You can't remember anything, huh?"

"Unless you feel like telling me what you know, I'd recommend not patronizing me with it," Shadow told him calmly, his tone traced with a hint of anger.

"You really don't remember me, your old pal?" Sonic asked, dodging away from a fist and counter attacking with one of his own. Shadow stumbled once again- this hedgehog was the toughest opponent he'd faced yet! And not only did he seem to recognize him- his little friends did as well…

Who was he before this?

Meanwhile, Tails was left to deal with Omega as Sonic was flirting with disaster by messing with Shadow, and Rouge and Knuckles were "catching up on old times". The killer robot aimed all of his relentless weapons at the poor fox, Tails flying away from them as fast as he could go.

"Woodland creature cannot escape!" Omega shouted, locking onto Tails and firing away.

"What do you want with me?" Tails yelped, taking off into the air. "I thought you were after Eggman- YAH!"

One of the projectiles made contact with the flying fox, sending him careening out of the sky like an airplane. Tails rolled onto the ground, his side now seriously aching, but not seriously injured. Talk about a miracle. Omega thundered up to him and threatened to shoot at him once more, but Tails scrambled away before Omega could do anything else. However, the robot grabbed him by one of his tails and held him high.

"One less supporter- now I will destroy you all!"

"Tails!" both Sonic and Knuckles barked, consecutively knocking their opponents to the ground to take care of Omega. Rouge was left sitting in a daze as Shadow skated after Sonic. Omega whirled around to face the oncoming threat, raising his hand that didn't contain Tails. He shifted to his blasters and took aim once again. Sonic and Knuckles exchanged a nod as they came closer to Omega.

"This is for Tails!" they shouted, both of them extending an arm and a leg as they plowed into Omega. Needless to say, the combined force of Sonic _and_ Knuckles was enough to knock over even Omega, and Shadow felt oddly discouraged when the fighting machine thudded against the ground, releasing Tails from his grip. Sonic ran over to Tails as Knuckles darted back to take care of Rouge.

"Tails, buddy, please tell me you're all right!"

"I'm all right," Tails promised, sounding disoriented. "I'm outta this fight though- that robot is one piece of work…"

Tails collapsed, almost falling asleep from exhaustion. Sonic knew he was down for the count for the moment and set him off to the side, to stay out of the battle. It was now Sonic and Knuckles versus Shadow and Rouge, but by the looks of it, Rouge wasn't about to last much longer.

"I did my part," Rouge grumbled, kicking constantly at Knuckles. "And it got me nowhere…"

"What, your little chat with Sonic didn't go as planned?" Knuckles teased, only to be struck across the face with a purple boot.

"_No_," Rouge seethed, trying to calm herself down. "I just wanted to help Shadow…but not even Sonic can do anything, and I'm afraid to tell him myself…"

"Tell who what?"

"You never mind!" Rouge lashed out again, kicking Knuckles right in the stomach and knocking the wind out of him. "If you and your team know what's good for you, you'll stay out of our way! We'll catch Eggman, Shadow will get his answers, Omega will get his revenge, and I'll get my treasure!"

"Always about treasure with you," Knuckles sighed, grabbing Rouge's wrist and flipping her over his head. "It'll be the death of you, and then I won't be there to grab you when you go careening off that ledge."

Rouge noticeably blushed and kicked at Knuckles one last time, but Knuckles caught her foot in his massive palm and pushed her back, shoving her right into the dirt and grass. Rouge sat back up instantly, staring hard at Knuckles, debating on whether or not to get back up and fight once again. On the other hand…she didn't think she wanted to.

Once Knuckles had gotten the message that she wasn't going to fight anymore, he respectfully backed off, and Rouge fell onto her back, staring at the clouds above with confusion.

"Two down," Knuckles stated, catching up with Sonic. "One left to go. What's the plan?"

"Throw me," Sonic said instantly, already bracing himself. Knuckles blinked.

"But we don't have Tails-"

"Just throw me."

Shadow realized both of his teammates were down for the count, lightly scowling under his breath about how unexpectedly strong the other team was. He then threw himself at Knuckles, the echidna grabbing Shadow in his palms and holding him off for as long as he could. Eventually Knuckles bowled him into a tree, just like how would've done if it were Sonic. Shadow uncurled himself and looked up just in time to see Sonic come flying at him, foot first and ready to strike. Shadow could have easily dodged, but this was how it was meant to end, wasn't it?

He held up his arms to soften to blow, and to at least protect his face. He definitely felt when Sonic struck, the momentum of the force doing extra damage on Shadow. Shadow was prepared to get back up, but his weight suddenly shifted downward, leaving the hedgehog slumped against what remained of the tree, completely shocked.

"Who are you…to be able to defeat me?"

Sonic had a lopsided expression. "I wish you could remember."

Knuckles, meanwhile, assisted Tails off the ground, who had noticed how important this battle was. Tails wished he could've asked some questions as well, instead of running around the whole time. Grabbing his side, he breathed heavily, knowing that there was nothing he could do about it now.

"If only we had more time…" Tails sighed, turning to Knuckles, who was glancing down at Rouge. The echidna just sighed and walked on, Tails trotting cautiously after him.

Sonic stayed behind for a few more moments, having a staring contest with Shadow, who apparently couldn't move at the moment. They both were wordless, until Sonic was the one who spoke up.

"It's good to see you again, Shadow, since you came back from the dead and all," he admitted, smiling the slightest bit. "It's just a shame that the feeling is unable to be mutual…"

With that, Sonic jogged after his friends; unaware that he'd just let slip a very interesting revelation that Rouge knew Shadow was never going to get over.


	17. Hang Castle

Because We're Sonic Heroes

Chapter 16: Hang Castle

Team Chaotix quickly evacuated from their battle with Team Rose, more so from embarrassment from the misunderstanding than the sudden comeback their rivals had at the end.

"Talk about a huge misunderstanding…" groaned Espio. How could they have come to such an incorrect conclusion?

"Yeah, sure made fools out of ourselves."

"Nothing new for you, Vector!" Charmy teased.

"WHAT? You were the one to first jump at the chance…"

"No time for arguing! Now's the time to be on guard! It's very mysterious around here!" ordered the client out of nowhere. Vector muttered something under his breath as he brought the walkie talkie up to his ear.

"Yes, mysterious. What's the next mission? After all…"

Vector glanced around- they had run so far north, they emerged out of the jungle and had reached the entrance of a huge castle. Night had fallen by that time, so now the sky was draped in darkness and the end of the second day was coming to a close.

"…a deserted castle in the middle of nowhere in the dark doesn't seem like an opportune place to have an in depth mission."

"Then the mission won't be in depth- find the ten keys that unlock the entrance to the mansion behind the castle. You're going to need to be on high alert, because no one will be able to leave these woods without your help."

"Wait…" Espio began, taking the device from Vector. "Theoretically speaking, if we don't carry out the mission you have for this really creepy place, then other teams that are _possibly_ out there besides us can't get through either?"

"That's what I'm saying," the client replied flatly, shutting off the communications.

. . .

The now golden sky was painted with white clouds in some parts, but marked by grey ones in other area. It was a peculiar sight indeed, but Rouge hadn't the time the dwell on that.

"Are you sure this is the right way?" Rouge questioned, just as worried about where they were going as Big had been.

"Affirmative."

Rouge expected that reply from Omega, but once again noticed Shadow's odd silence. She was hesitant to speak to him. "…What's up? Something on your mind?"

Shadow shook his head and pretended to forget about whatever he was mulling over. "Well…Nevermind. Let's go."

Rouge and Omega slowly followed Shadow as he stalked off, mumbling to himself. "That blue hedgehog like me…what the doctor said about my memory…just who am I?"

Shadow walked right into the castle absent-mindedly, muttering to himself like a mummy. Rouge was disheartened by the sight of him, and she feared that he'd eventually question what Sonic had been saying…

So the time of confrontation was drawing close. Rouge was apprehensive about it, but deep down, it had been what she was waiting for the entire time.

. . .

"I think we're lost…" Big boomed.

"This place is creepy…" shivered Cream, grabbing Cheese for support. Amy placed her hand on her hips and ignored the negativity- the Chaotix had went this way, so obviously something of interest was around Hang Castle.

"Come on, you guys! Don't you want to find Chocola and Froggy?" a worried Big and frightened Cream nodded furiously in response. Amy pumped an encouraging fist. "We can do this!"

"I've gotta get tough for all of us…" Big mused, once they started walking.

. . .

"Sonic, you sure this is the right way?" shivered Tails, desperately trying to hide the fact that he was chilled out of his mind. His best friend, however, was feeling the exact opposite.

"I saw Shadow and Eggman go this way," Sonic calmly replied. In fact, it seemed like he was looking forward to going into the castle. "This has gotta be the right way!"

"But it's so spooky here!"

"Maybe…that's the ghost of Shadow we saw earlier!" Knuckles snickered while lightly teasing. Sonic gave him a look while Tails felt a shudder go down his spine.

"Whaa…stop it, Knuckles!"

"Easy, I'm pretty sure that wasn't a ghost- he certainly didn't fight like one," Sonic rubbed his arm, still feeling the sting of one of Shadow's attacks. "But…could it really be him…?"

"Look, we'll figure that out when the world isn't possibly on its last twenty-four hours of freedom," Knuckles stated, placing a hand on Sonic's shoulder. "It must've been hardest for you, seeing him fall just after…well, you know."

"Yeah." A hard look appeared on Sonic's face, but it vanished just as quickly as it had arrived. "But you're right, Knuckles. We'll worry about that once we squash that crackpot Eggman's scheme! That's our number one priority!"

"But does that involve going in there?" winced Tails, averting his eyes from the castle. However, this was fruitless because Sonic snagged his wrist and plunged through the front doors anyway.

"Of course! It wouldn't be fun if we simply went around! That's the easy way out!"

Knuckles sighed, jogging after the others.

"Sonic…you're definitely one of a kind."

. . .

Vector lead his team through the corridors of Hang Castle, their sight only guided by the lit sconces that lined the walls. The first key had been resting on the top of a stack of crates, but finding the next one wasn't as easy…

"I bet it's tangled in a spider's web!" Charmy rambled, describing possible hiding places. "Or maybe a ghost has it! Or maybe there's some sort of monster in here that ate it for breakfast!"

"I'm glad you're thinking outside the box," Espio interrupted, stalking quietly down the halls on high alert. "But please, try to come up with more reasonable solutions."

"We're in a haunted castle! Reasonable doesn't exist!"

Instantaneously after that, the three of them ran into a glowing blue orb, each of them being blinded by the light that followed. When sight returned to them, they instantly knew that their world had been turned upside down…

Literally.

"What? !" exclaimed Vector, looking up to the place where they once stood. "Did the whole place just flop? Or did gravity get reversed or something?"

"No idea, but we're definitely upside down," Espio concluded.

"What if we were teleported to a place that makes it _seem_ like we're upside down?" Charmy asked, hovering upside down to Vector and Espio's perspective.

"That would be unreasonable," Espio replied, kneeling down and scooping up the second key. Charmy huffed, folded his arms, and shook his head.

"Some people just don't listen to reason…"

. . .

"So…interesting place or what?"

Rouge glided over the rest of her team, tired of walking in unsettling silence. Lucky for her, Omega was up for conversation.

"This place is highly illogical. Does not compute."

"Whaddya mean? It's not that supernatural…"

"Rouge, we're walking upside down," Shadow interrupted, inputting the information because it was pretty obvious.

"The horizon has been turned upside down," confirmed Omega. "Cannot diagnose reason."

"Well, okay then," Rouge replied, watching as Shadow left the conversation. "I just meant supernatural as in creepy, but if you go with the literal term, then all right."

Shadow took the lead, blasting between the castle's towers and down certain red carpeted hallways. Candles went out as he rushed by, leaving a trail of darkness in his wake. Eventually, he came to a blue orb, which he unintentionally brushed against as he ran by. Gravity was literally ripped from under him, causing Rouge to squeal out when they were returned to original orientation.

"That's enough to cause someone to flip out, huh?" Rouge asked, descending to the ground.

"Hmph," was all Shadow had to say, disregarding Rouge and her statement. Rouge tilted her head, looking seriously confused.

"Huh…?"

"He is deeply conflicted," Omega assumed, now standing next to Rouge after taking the time to blast a hole in a fellow robot. "Perhaps he just needs time to think."

"Or maybe he's just in dire need of clarification," Rouge whispered, whisking off to follow the fleeing hedgehog.

. . .

It was one thing for Cream to be a little girl, and naturally be afraid of anything that happened to spook her. It was a completely different story when she shrieked at every little thing. Her latest fretting was caused by Amy stumbling over a blue orb, forcing the castle to flip itself over.

"I-I really don't like this place…" Cream whimpered, cuddling Cheese for more than support.

"There's no need to worry!"Big assured, taking the lead. He took a few steps forward and spread his arms out. "See? We're fine!"

"Big is right, Cream. This castle's probably just a bunch of illusions mashed together to scare off intruders," Amy pointed out. "We're only here because it's the only direct path out of these freaky woods, and it's night, and it's dark out!"

Amy continued to spout off her reasons, Cream leaving her to the task as she trailed behind Big. She felt surrounded by terrifying sounds and creepy things, but the rabbit didn't shriek. Big even managed to calm her down by locating another blue orb and giving it a whack.

"Aaaah! Where's the floor!" Amy yelped, landing rather awkwardly back on the ground. Cream glanced around and tapped her friend on the shoulder.

"Actually, Amy, the castle has returned back to normal," Cream realized, releasing Cheese for the first time since they arrived. "It's much more tolerable when it's right side up!"

The room they landed in had ghostly trees and orange leaves on the ground, crunching as they walked over them. Cream didn't flinch this time, feeling a bit more confident about continuing on.

. . .

Back with Team Sonic, Tails wasn't nearly as frightened of everything as Cream had been, but still, a decent amount of things gave him a good scare.

Nearly all of those things were caused by Knuckles himself.

"Knuckles!" Tails finally cried, glaring at the echidna who'd just sprung out of a bush. "I'd expect that from Sonic, but you?"

"Sorry- truth be told, I'm trying to scare Sonic, not you," Knuckles confessed, stepping out of the bush. "You gotta admit, that was pretty funny though.

"Nuh-uh!"

"Speaking of, where'd that speedy blue devil zip off to?"

Tails and Knuckles ceased their conversation, only to watch as Sonic careened out of nowhere and struck a jack-o-lantern with his foot. He shouted something along the lines of "Pumpkin smashing!" as the door before them swung open, Sonic having hit a secret switch.

"I got the door open!" he cheered, already rushing in. Knuckles gaped at Sonic's inability to stand still for more than a few seconds as Tails slipped into the room as well.

"I should be used to it by now…" Knuckles told himself. "…so why am I not used to it? !"

. . .

Still in the flip-flopped side of the castle, Team Chaotix worked their way to their next key. Charmy flew them "up" over stone pillars while Espio jumped on the underside of platforms. Eventually their minds reoriented so that the upside down weirdness was normal for them, but there were still problems to deal with.

"Careful, you guys," Espio warned, halting the group for a brief moment and gesturing to a robot flapping around. "That robot's got a search light, so don't let him see you…"

"So what if it sees us?" asked Charmy, beginning to float over to it. "I mean, it sees us, it attacks, and we beat it up! What's any different?"

"Let's not find out." Vector grabbed Charmy as Espio camouflaged himself, hoping to trick the robot. Naturally, while being invisible, the robot did not detect Espio, giving him the perfect chance to strike without being seen.

"Lurking in the shadows- such is the way of the ninja," Espio smirked as he returned to view, standing over the robot rubble. Meanwhile, Vector tried to find a way forward, only to be confronted by torches seemingly floating in midair.

"Hmm…it looks like they're resting on something, but nothing's there!" he exclaimed, turning to his team. "Should we trust the torches and try to go across?"

"Sure!" chirped Charmy. "If we end up falling, I'll just fly us back up!"

Espio was the one to test the path the torches outlined, his boot resting on something solid. Deeming it safe, Espio made his way across, the rest of his team in tow. Resting on the platform was another ghostly blue orb, which Vector reached out to touch. Another wave of ghouls flew out, stealing sight away from the Chaotix…before they fell back to the "ground".

"I still don't quite understand that," Espio muttered, rubbing his head.

"I haven't understood a lot of things on this adventure," retorted Vector. He marched through the door before them, surprisingly unlocked. "…and I don't quite get that either."

"Regardless, we'd better find some keys soon- we're slacking a little."

"Way ahead of you!" cheered Charmy, swinging the newly acquired key around his finger. "Totally awesome!"

. . .

Rouge and Omega finally caught up with Shadow when they came across him battling profusely with several Egg Pawns. His expression was stoic, punching, kicking and slicing through metal with no emotion. Once he was finished, Rouge approached him slowly, but every slight movement he made put her on edge.

"Shadow…it's palpably obvious that something's really bothering you, and if you'd just explain maybe we can-"

"You know more than you're letting me in on," Shadow said instantly, not even looking at the bat. Rouge's ears began to droop, for she knew she was cornered.

"Shadow, you know I would never lie to you-"

"Then why haven't you been telling me the truth?" his fist slammed into the stone pillar standing innocently next to him, crumbling after receiving impact. "That blue hedgehog…he's Sonic, the guy you knew…and he apparently knows who I am, along with his little friends! He's the guy in my vision, he's the blue streak I caught running through Seaside Hill…and he knew me."

"Look, it sounds like you've got a bone to pick with Sonic, not me," Rouge scoffed, shrugging, though her ears showed how she truly felt- ashamed.

"Tell me everything, Rouge," Shadow demanded, not a trace of humor evident in his voice. "Anything, regarding Sonic, regarding me…or maybe even regarding yourself."

Omega glanced from hedgehog to bat, sight sensors blinking rapidly.

"I'm picking up high amounts of tension in the air. Unsettling to all within range."

Rouge's ears snapped back to their original position, her wings stretching out with her rising inner anger. She snarled, revealing her fangs, and it would've caught Shadow off guard if he wasn't as enraged as she was.

"Fine, Shadow, fine!" Rouge practically hissed, quaking now. "If you really want me to tell you that once wished revenge upon the world and vowed to destroy it, that you once assisted in blowing up half the moon, that you changed your mind in the end, sacrificing yourself for Sonic, me, and the entire world…and that you're supposed to be dead, then fine! There you go. Hope you're happy."

Shadow's frustration was gone- completely replaced by sheer shock. Rouge began marching away, letting her words sink as deep as they needed to go.

"Don't you think I kept my mouth shut for a reason? If I had blabbed all this to you in the first place, we wouldn't be where we are now, especially since I now have to cope with the possibility that those aren't _your_ memories, because you could…possibly not _have_ any memories, like Eggman said. You could possibly be an android. And maybe…"

Her hand reached into her pocket, clenching it around the inhibitor ring that rested within.

"…the Shadow that I knew is still gone. And maybe he's never coming back."

Rouge continued to walk off, Shadow remaining dazed beyond belief. Omega walked up to him, still processing the event that had taken place.

"…perhaps we should continue with original aspirations."

. . .

"Do you wonder," Cream began. "How big this castle is, or why it's out here in these woods?"

"Not really," Amy replied bluntly. "I'm just wondering where the exit is."

"Whoever lived here must've really not enjoyed company," Big stated, swatting away a spider dangling from a web above him.

They used nearby springs to ascend up a tower, landing on a balcony and heading on in. A few Egg Pawns were there to greet them, but Big stepped forward and smacked them all away with his umbrella. One tried to make a quick get away, but Cream stunned it by throwing Cheese and Amy flattened it into a metallic pancake.

"Way to go!" cheered Amy, giving a beaming Cream a high five.

Team Rose then descended back down the tower via grind rail, ending up in a hallway lit by several torches. Amy took the lead and rushed on through, getting the team out of there in record time. However, as soon as they reached the end of the hall, Big bumped a blue orb, causing the castle to flip once more.

. . .

Vector, Espio, and Charmy continued their scavenger hunt, walking aimlessly through the halls, with some of them growing blue-leaved trees! Charmy wondered how that was even possible while Espio tracked down the fourth key.

"I have a feeling it's at the top of this tower," Espio stated, heading over to a nearby grind rail. He jumped onto to it, riding it upwards to the top of the tower. Sure enough, the next key was waiting for him on a pedestal. He grabbed it and tucked it away, already setting his sights on the next one.

"Where do we go from here?" Vector asked as he and Charmy catching up with Espio.

"We could always go back down the rail," suggested Espio, pointing to an area down below they hadn't explored.

Charmy simply flew himself down. "I don't have to bend to the will of rails!"

Rolling their eyes, Vector and Espio descended down the rail and beat Charmy to the lower level. Charmy pouted for a unnecessary amount of time until Vector activated another orb, flipping the trio once again. As soon as they landed on the "ceiling", Vector reached up between a quartet of torches and grabbed the fifth key.

"Heh, good things come to those who wait!"

"What're you doing? You're only half way there!" the client's voice screamed from the communicator.

"Trust us, we know," Espio huffed, shutting him off on the spot.

. . .

Sonic continued to bounce and dash through the halls of the castle, like he was stuck in some kind of haunted house and he was enjoying it way too much. Tails had less anxiety now that he'd been in the castle for long enough, and he even attempted to frighten Knuckles- and that went over great.

"Nice try, Tails," snickered Knuckles, grabbing the fox out of the air just as he went to lunge at the echidna. He felt Tails droop in his grip.

"Aw, man…"

Knuckles set Tails back on the ground and tried to find Sonic- it was impossible to keep an eye on him, so Knuckles was just hoping that Sonic's blur would pass by, thus he and Tails could follow that.

Sure enough, Sonic eventually zipped by without a warning, Knuckles and Tails running after him on the spot. Sonic continued literally plowing through the castle, until one particular object really tripped him up.

"YAH!"

Sonic's foot snagged the blue orb, the moment of his speed throwing him into the nearest wall as gravity inverted itself…or perhaps, the castle had been flipped upside down. Sonic tumbled to the ground with a lack of grace, Tails and Knuckles floating down next to him.

"Someone should've put up a warning sign- 'This castle flips at will'!"

"Not quite, Sonic," Tails replied, looking up at where they once were. "Apparently that blue switch operates the flipping process…question is, how? I bet the answer is fascinating…"

"Well, we're not sticking around to find out," grunted Knuckles, continuing on. "There's gotta be some way to revert this…"

. . .

With five keys left to go, Espio refused to give in to the exhaustion that was slowly building up in his legs from wandering around so much.

The same couldn't be said for Charmy and Vector.

"Couldn't the builder of this place put all the keys on a key ring and make things so much more convenient?" Vector huffed, trudging behind Espio. Charmy rested on his head, complaining about the thing he usually griped about.

"There must be a reason behind this mission," Espio stated, kicking through a weak robot and retrieving the key that was hidden within.

"Besides the fact that if we don't get the keys no one's going to be able to stop Eggman?" questioned Vector.

"Of course. After all, all out missions before were to test out skills in different areas. Protecting the Chao, not being seen by frogs, collecting crabs and bingo chips, destroying those capsules…"

Espio nudged another blue orb, though whether they were on the ceiling or the floor by this point was lost on him. They were now in an area that was oozing liquid out of spouts in the wall, the tiling making it seem like it was a greenish color. The seventh key was lying in a pool behind them, which Vector detected before they ended up walking past it.

"Kinda makes ya wonder," Charmy began, flying down the path. "Are the other teams even making any progress?"

"I should hope so…" Vector grabbed Charmy and threw him at a nearby Flapper. "If it comes down to it, we might need all the help we can get."

"But that would include Sonic and his friends, the "broad" with the dead guy and the killer robot, and the trio that almost beat us up for trying to take their Chao," Espio pointed out, a smirk playing on his expression. Vector glanced at the ground and clenched his fist.

"I know."

. . .

The large full moon hung over Hang Castle, lighting the area with its eerie glow and casting a depressing atmosphere as it grew later into the night. But for certain teams, a depressing atmosphere had already been formed and didn't need assistance from the sky.

Shadow was in a rainbow of confliction, but he gave up on trying to make sense of anything. Whether what Rouge said was true or not, whether Sonic was implying something or not…the only one who knew what Shadow had been doing before he was sealed in the pod was Eggman himself, for he was the one who had encased Shadow in there- nothing could change that fact. Whether he was the "Shadow" Rouge spoke so highly of, or just a recreation, it was Eggman who held the truth.

Unless something really earth shattering came to him, his objective was still his number one priority. He explained this to Omega, who concurred on the spot, though it was most likely because the fighter drone wanted to crush more metal.

Rouge, however, wasn't as easy to get back on track. She still followed obediently behind Shadow when he ran the lead, she still allowed Omega to hurl her violently at obstacles, and she continued to take the group to higher places…she just wasn't herself.

"I almost feel bad for yelling at her," Shadow muttered to himself, running in the once again upside down castle. "But I had to know what that blue hedgehog was talking about…granted, I definitely know now."

"Must eradicate!" came Omega's battle cry, signaling the arrival of more Egg Pawns. These ones charged forward with spears outstretched, and shields for extra defense. Shadow smirked a bit, dashing at them.

"Looks like this is for me," he snickered, vanishing into a black funnel and tearing the shields away from the Egg Pawns. Once he raced to a stop, he was surprised to see Rouge fly into the fray, whipping around like a white tornado and kicking away the weapons.

Omega finished up with no more than three explosions.

"Good work," Shadow said, particularly glancing at Rouge. Rouge gave a small smile and a shrug back, before continuing through the castle. "…well, I give a compliment for once and she turns the other way."

Omega was already stalking after Rouge, beeping something about "cleaning out the entire castle of Eggman scum".

. . .

Team Rose was still running around upside down, Cream making another comment about how her head was rapidly spinning. They'd been leaping from tower to tower but just now arrived at a gap. As per usual, the only way across was by crossing platforms. Big made the first jump, though he made the mistake of glancing down. If they ended up slipping, they'd fall right into the sky- at least, from his perspective.

"This is dangerous. Be careful not fall!"

"Excellent observation, Big," Amy commented, coming out more than sarcastic. She easily hopped from platform to platform, with Cream giggling and casually hovering overhead to get across. Big smiled, simply glad that they all made it across, and continued on. Amy just shook her head. "Really, no one needs to tell me twice to be careful! I'm the most careful person I know!"

Naturally, right after that she walked into a horde of robots. She didn't even have the time to pull out her hammer before one of the Egg Pawns seized her. Cream raised an eyebrow as Big marched over to free her.

"Really careful, Amy?"

"This was totally an unfortunate coincidence."

. . .

"Aah! We're turning upside down again!" Tails cried, realizing that he wasn't taking a liking to the sensation. Knuckles had found another blue switch, and as he and Tails hovered above the ground, Sonic fell on his face once more.

"Ugh…we're back to normal, now," Sonic pointed out, groaning as he pushed himself off the ground. "And both of you- stop making me wish I could fly."

Tails and Knuckles traded sheepish grins as they returned to the ground and followed Sonic.

The triple threat rushed over ramps and bounced on springs, making their way to the inner workings of the castle. Tails deduced that the way out would be on the other side, if they kept heading in the same direction. Sonic took that into consideration as he barreled through every room in the castle. Knuckles saw so many walls and doors fly by that he was sure that they'd entered every last one in the vicinity besides the ones they needed.

"Do you know what you're doing, or is this just your absolutely killer instinct?" Knuckles asked after believing the same room passed him three times.

"Killer instinct; why do it any other way?"

"Gee, because maybe you're leading us to places we've already been?"

"C'mon, trust me- what can go wrong?"

"That's just asking for trouble," muttered Tails, scratching his ear. At the top of the next tower, Knuckles halted Sonic and readied his fists.

"That's it, we're going my way."

"Huh-?"

Knuckles leapt up and came back down, his spiked fists shattering a group of crates that were embedded into the floor. They blocked a hole, which Knuckles ended up throwing Sonic and Tails down. Sonic yelped for most of the fall, but Tails grabbed his wrists and lowered him to safety. Knuckles jumped after them moments later, grinning dangerously.

"And that's what happens when we follow my instinct! You guys trust me, right?"

"Not after that stunt," Sonic grimaced.

Sonic was prepared to dash off once again without thinking, but this was put on hold when he caught Knuckles battling shield-wielding Egg Pawns. Knuckles' fist dented the metal for sure, but even he was having trouble flat-out punching through it.

"Could use a little backup over here!"

"Leave it to me!" Sonic called, running onto the scene and causing a whirlwind. "Shields up, guys!"

The violent wind Sonic whipped up stole all the Egg Pawns' shields, careening them into the air and whisking them away from their owners. With their defenses down, Knuckles was free to pound holes and tear metal as he pleased. Two of the robots attempted to flee, but Tails flew in and smashed their heads together before that became possible. Once Sonic stopped running, Knuckles quit punching, and Tails returned to the ground, the twin-tailed foxed noticed that the way forward was open.

"Hey, maybe Knuckles was onto something after all!"

"Well, I _do_ have good tracking skills. I'm just glad they finally had a chance to come into the limelight-"

"And they say _I'm_ the one with the huge ego," grumbled Sonic, trotting through the door as Knuckles fumed.

. . .

Following another invisible path, the Chaotic reached key number eight, leaving them with two more to go before they could unlock the only exit out of the mansion.

They pulled the two switches to open the next door, leading them to presumably the final leg of the mansion. More ghoulish trees lingered about, with robots galore and a cracked wall at the far side of the room. The only option was for Vector to slam his teammates into it, turning the wall into rubble within moments.

"There's key number nine!" cried Charmy as Espio pulled himself together after being barreled through concrete.

"That just leaves one more to find and we can blow this haunted popsicle stand!"

"Easier said than done, Vector," Espio commented. He rushed around another tall stone tower, where a blue orb was hidden in a section of the ground.

"There it is again!" Charmy gasped.

"Let's hope it's the last one," Espio nodded, allowing the bee to strike it. They were once again flipped upside down, now looking at the tower as if it were above them.

"Whoa…" Vector looked over the edge of where they had landed and grimaced a little. "Pretty strange looking down at a huge moon like that…"

He pulled himself away from the upside down view and led his team up the tower. The way up coiled around the walls, sprinkled with Flappers here and there. Espio and Charmy tag teamed to take them all out while Vector focused on just getting to the top. However, waiting for them at the top was one last blue orb, which brought them back to the original orientation. They fell from the "top" and landed on the "bottom".

"What's going on?" Espio questioned, not liking the sensation of falling up.

"It's reversing the reverse!" Charmy replied, arms spread out with joy. Once they alighted back to solid ground, Vector claimed the final key and tossed it in his hand.

"Good job, boys. That could've been a lot worse!"

"That's encouraging."

"Oh, hush Espio."

. . .

Team Dark was moving forward as contently as they could, but this was shattered instantly when Rouge shrieked.

"Ugh, wait," she instantly halted to a stop. "What's with this ugly statue?"

The statue in question resembled Dr. Eggman, and although Shadow found it somewhat humorous, why was a depiction of him resting in this place?

"Rouge, there is a target switch. Can you hit it?" Omega asked, taking care of surrounding robots. Rouge glanced around, spotting it right in the middle of the platform.

"Got it!" she cried, throwing herself at it and activating it.

This released the bars surrounding a blue orb, with Shadow being the one to hit it. The castle flipped once more, also flipping the Eggman statue along with it…

This time, it represented something far more sinister, with Shadow being the only one to notice. This statue was dark in color, and its eyes seemed to glow yellow, but other than that, Shadow couldn't tell what it was.

"Peculiar…" was all he mumbled before being pulled away by Omega. Apparently Rouge had found the exit, and all of them were more than ready to get out of that horror house.

When they reached the end of the hall, they found the door that lead to the exit…

An exit that was already unlocked.

. . .

Once Amy had been freed courtesy of Big, she went all out with her revenge. Her hammer shattered the torsos of many Egg Pawns, apparently enraging a few that had magic abilities and were able to repair their friends. Big took care of those ones personally, considering his umbrella was becoming very useful lately.

As Amy and Big battled to their heart's content, Cream stood off to the side, vision locked onto the walls. They were still upside down, which justified the sight, but it was still bizarre seeing skeleton-faced fountains dripping water upwards.

"This…makes no sense."

Now looking beyond the fountains, Cream spotted the exit of the castle- however, the castle would need to be flipped before they could escape it. She looked past where Amy and Big were wrecking robots and spotted a blue orb- she just needed to get to it.

"-and that'll teach you to think twice about putting your hands on a lady!" Amy roared, standing over an Egg Pawn that had been mashed in more than one place. Big was wrestling with another one, and Cream rushed by them both, making her way to the blue orb.

"Brace yourselves!" Cream cried, kicking the orb and readying herself as they were flopped. The robots went first, crashing into the ground without any pre warning. Amy and Big both landed on their feet, surrounded by scrap metal.

"You're sure on the ball, Cream!" Amy exclaimed, placing a hand on her hip. She sashayed over to the door, slightly surprised that it was already ajar. "Now, who's ready to get out of here?"

"Anytime you are," Big replied, with Cream already pulling the door open.

. . .

"We're upside down again!"

"Hopefully this'll be the last time," Sonic replied to Tails.

"At least you landed on your feet this time," Knuckles pointed out. "Too bad though. Seeing you face plant over and over is classic."

"Quiet, you."

Tails took the lead and assembled the group into flight formation, flying them over a gap between two towers. They landed on the opposite tower, Sonic's legs running before they even touched the ground. Knuckles release instantly only to be kicked in the head.

"Once again, I'm mysteriously appalled at your impatient nature."

Sonic didn't bother saying a word- he raced inside, instantly smacking into another blue orb. The castle turned once more, and Team Sonic tumbled back to the way they were supposed to be. Sonic flipped and alighted on his feet, receiving a slightly disappointed look from Knuckles.

Assuming speed formation, Sonic led the way, having a good feeling about where he was going, regardless to Knuckles' beliefs. He did this all the time, following his gut and pretty much going where the wind took him. Tails understood that, and he always went right along with it as well. Knuckles didn't though, and Sonic couldn't figure out why. All he knew was that Knuckles seemed against whatever Sonic was for, and vice versa.

"Gentleman and gentleman…we have found the exit."

Sonic braked to a stop before throwing himself at the door, hanging off of it as he threw it open. Tails practically burst out into applause as Knuckles had to admit, it was sort of impressive. Sonic gave them both a wink, then sped outside.

. . .

The Chaotix came to the back door of the castle, which was a huge wooden door with ten locks keeping the inhabitants inside sealed away from the world beyond. Each of them placed three keys into the locks, with Vector inserting the final one and pushing the door open.

Yes, it led outside…

…but it led to something far worse than Hang Castle.

. . .

Later on, Team Dark was looking for a way out of the dark woods, after finally being freed from the castle. Omega was contently scanning the place to make sure there were no signs of any ambushing androids. Rouge was in the front, looking for any sign of an exit, not saying anything about their surroundings like usual. Shadow had enough of her subtle silent treatment and tapped her shoulder.

"Yeah?" she responded, eyes locked on looking ahead. Shadow took a deep breath and simply got to the point.

"Look, I am actually glad that you told me all that."

Rouge blinked and turned to Shadow, as if she had been released from a trance.

"Really? Wow…" her gaze slowly drifted downwards. "But, I bet you're still curious about it all."

"Of course," Shadow said obviously. "I need to find out for myself, so I can say I _can_ remember…but I'm not going to get anywhere if I'm swimming around in my own little theories. Right now, Eggman's my priority. He will tell me what I need to know or he'll face the consequences…"

Shadow clenched his fists, raising one in front of his face.

"I have a feeling that one day, an opportunity to find out who I really am will arrive…and I will rise to that challenge, when it comes, and when I'm ready. But I've got other things to worry about now- gotta take one thing at a time, I suppose."

Rouge was silent for a while, finally nodding. "Yeah, you're right Shadow. Sorry I unloaded all that on you like that. I'm surprised that you're taking it quite well."

"I've decided that I can't trust anything I'm told, though," Shadow admitted, folding his arms. "Not until something I can truly grasp onto comes my way. Whether I have to be patient or take action, that is what I'm going to do."

"Whatever you feel is right," Rouge sighed, shrugging. "Maybe getting my hands on Eggman's treasure will be enough to get my mind off this whole mess I've wrapped myself into…" she held out her hand offering it to Shadow. "Just know that none of it is you fault, m'kay?"

Shadow nodded, shaking her hand. "Understood. Now, what's our next course of action?"

"Let's consult with the suspicious group," Omega suggested, pointing a clawed hand over to the Chaotix, currently having a heated discussion with their client. Rouge instantly flared with excitement as she and Shadow raced over, Omega stomping behind them.

And as they were creeping closer to Team Chaotix, Team Rose was wandering around in the woods, and suddenly Hang Castle seemed like a five star hotel compared to the outside world. Cream kept her mouth shut and simply stayed close to Amy.

"Anyone see a place that would look like a decent way out?" Amy asked, turning her head in every direction.

"No," Big admitted. "But I see some people over there."

Amy glanced around Big, only to see the Chaotix standing at the entrance to another structure, and Team Dark closing in on them. She looked on curiously until it registered to Cream just who the Chaotix were.

"Aaah!" cried Cream. "It's the meanies that tried to take Cheese from me!"

"Looks like Rouge and a robot as well," Amy added, trying to get a closer look. "Wait a minute…is that…Shadow too? !"

"Who's Shadow?" Big asked, but Amy didn't reply. She bolted over to the group in an instant, waving to her team to follow.

"Let's go, guys! We're getting to the bottom of this!"

"Amy, wait, what if-?"

Cream was whisked away before she could complete her sentence.

Soon enough, Team Sonic caught up with the other three teams, who were for whatever reason all standing outside the entrance to a second structure, located just on the outskirts of the grounds of Hang Castle. The main event appeared to be the Chaotix chatting it up on a walkie talkie, and it seemed like they weren't even aware of Teams Dark and Rose sneaking up on them.

"Gee, what's going on over there?" Tails wondered, seeing all the teams in one place. It was actually quite the phenomenon. Sonic just grinned and headed over there.

"Beats me, but why should we get to miss out on the fun?"

"Wouldn't it be easier to get out of the woods before they do?" Knuckles asked. "That way, there will be no more distraction as we catch up to the Egg Fleet?"

Sonic shrugged, still walking toward the group of nine.

"Heh, c'mon guys-we didn't get an invitation, but we're crashing this party!"

* * *

><p><strong>I'm looking forward to next week. 8)<strong>


	18. Mystic Mansion

Because We're Sonic Heroes

Chapter 17: Mystic Mansion

"So, you have no idea why there's a castle and a mansion in these woods?" Espio questioned, trying to keep his cool during the conversation over the walkie talkie.

"Of course I do," replied the client, sounding insulted. "The mansion is actually located within the castle, and the castle has a wall that has a very large perimeter."

"That…hardly makes any sense, but whatever," Vector mumbled. "So anyway, what test of skill are we up for this time?"

"Listen carefully," began the client, Vector starting to push open the creaky doors. "You won't be able to escape this mysterious castle as long as the sixty red torches are burning. Extinguish all of the red torches, and you should be able to escape."

"We can escape, no problem!" Charmy explained. "All we have to do is go back through the front door and walk around, right?"

"What did that walkie talkie say?" Knuckles asked, just now entering with Tails. Team Dark and Team Rose had followed the Chaotix in almost instantly, and neither team had dared to make a move. Vector yelped as Espio fumbled with the walkie talkie. The chameleon succeeded in tucking it away, but had no idea to respond to the group of heroes standing behind him.

"Wh-wha…did you follow us here? !"

"Not really," scoffed Rouge. "This was the only way to get out of the woods."

"Basically we're all heading to the same destination, if I'm correct," Tails pointed out, nervously tugging on his gloves.

"Take a few steps back though…" Amy interrupted, holding up her hand. "Did or didn't the guy say that we couldn't escape until all the torches were put out?"

"Are we stuck in here, now? !" gasped Cream, already beginning to panic.

"Nonsense!" exclaimed Charmy. "Like I was saying, we can just go back out the front door if-"

"Hey guys, what'd I miss?" asked Sonic, flying through the doors and slamming them shut behind him. Nearly everyone joined in on a unified gasp, with Knuckles quickly beginning to struggle to open the door. When it refused to budge, Tails, Charmy, Cream, Amy, and Rouge noticeably looked panicked, Shadow and Espio glared at Sonic, and Knuckles, Big, Vector, and Omega pooled their strength and used it on the doors.

No luck.

"Sensors not needed to indicate that…this door is indeed locked," Omega announced. "Proceed with extermination of hedgehog at fault."

"Whoa, what?" Sonic yelped, holding up his hands as Omega raised his guns. "I didn't know the door was going to lock behind me! Get a grip!"

"Once again, this is Sonic's fault," grumbled Knuckles. "This is just like how you nearly killed us in the Power Plant by causing all that liquid energy to rise!"

"That was you?" shouted Shadow and Rouge, turning on Sonic with fists ready.

"Hold up, everyone," Espio stated, stepping in the middle of the commotion. "We, the Chaotix, will handle this personally. If you all so desire to get out of here as well, you can feel free to stick close as we put out all sixty-"

In that instant, Shadow bolted off, saying that he didn't have time for this and needed to find Eggman. His team followed obediently, with Team Sonic overhearing them and becoming determined to reach the end of the mansion first. Big absently-minded walked off, firmly believing that Froggy was hiding out somewhere, with Amy and Cream yelling at him to not wander off alone. Thus, Team Chaotix was left in the dust.

"…darn," Espio huffed. "I thought I sounded pretty assertive."

"Well, looks like we'd better get to work, boys!" declared Vector, following the rest of the teams deeper into the mansion…

. . .

Shadow stormed through the castle, looking more determined than ever before to find Eggman- and before Sonic. Rouge and Omega were right behind him all the way, but they still took their surroundings into consideration.

"Sure is spooky in here…" Rouge trailed, eyeing every creepy wall and overhearing every creak.

"Initiating interior search," Omega began, his eyes flashing considerably.

"We don't have to time for that you two," Shadow stated, practically flying up the steps before kicking the door to the next room open. "We have to stay focused on simply getting out of here."

"But if what the trouble-making Chaotix said is true…then we can't even do that," Rouge pointed out.

"Scanners do indicate a mysterious interference within structure," rambled Omega.

A loud crash emitted afterwards, Rouge and Omega only watching as Shadow created a hole in the floor. He quickly motioned for the others to follow, descending into a lower level of the mansion.

"Four walls can't box me in…"

. . .

"I'm kinda scared…" Cream admitted, eyes growing wider the longer she anticipated fright. Big put a reassuring hand on her shoulder and smiled.

"It's all right. I'll be right here by you," Big told her. Cream managed a smile, since it was true that Big wouldn't let anything happen to her, and headed on through the mansion feeling a bit more confident.

"Maybe we should've stayed with the Chaotix," Amy pondered, pushing open the doors in front of her. "That way, at least we wouldn't be blindly searching this place alone.

"I dunno…what if they attempt to take Cheese again?"

"I doubt they'd make the same mistake twice, especially since they've got that mysterious voice they're working for."

They entered a large round room carpeted in red, with nothing but a single mysterious door resting in the middle. A few Egg Pawns were lingering about, but Big smashing two little girls into them was enough to clear them out.

"How are we supposed to go through this door?" Amy asked, even going so far as to knock on it. "There's not another side to it!"

"Not yet, maybe," Big suddenly stated, using his umbrella to poke a switch at the back of the room. Amy gasped as the room instantly changed, revealing that the door did in fact, led somewhere.

"Wow, Big! How'd you figure that out?"

"I dunno- that orb was just shiny!"

"Unpredictable things happen when you touch those switches," Cream realized, glancing at it one last time as she followed Amy and Big through the door.

. . .

Naturally, Sonic was the only one to take pleasure in walking around a completely haunted mansion.

"Feels like Halloween with all these ghosts!" chuckled Sonic, watching as a white entity phased through one walls and disappeared through another. Knuckles, unknown to Sonic, winced considerably.

"Ghosts?"

"Sure!"

Sonic raced up the stairs, barreled through a door, and skidded to a stop at the end of the hallway. A ghost with a Jack-o-lantern head arrived out of thin air, flying at all of them and letting out a screech. Even Sonic jumped at that, but it was nothing compared to the sound Knuckles muffled behind his palm.

"…let's head up," Tails suggested, taking flight formation. "Maybe there will be less things to spook us out in that direction…"

"I don't mind," Sonic stated, grabbing Tails' ankles. "So long as we get to Eggman before Shadow…"

"But we can't even get out until the Chaotix blow out all the torches…" Knuckles reminded him.

. . .

The Chaotix was left to do the hard work of blowing out the torches, but they weren't complaining…too much. After all, when the other teams reached the other side of the mansion, they'd be in for a surprise when they realized they really couldn't get out.

"There's four already," Espio announced, putting out the flames on four skeleton-hand torches arranged in a square.

"Great," grumbled Vector, punching through the door leading to the next room.

"Perk up, Vector!" Charmy exclaimed, buzzing around the crocodile's head. "We'll have the last laugh when it comes down to it!"

"I suppose…but you'd think that the others would be more willing to, I don't know, assist us in getting out of here?"

They marched up the stairs, leading to a room crawling with Egg Pawns blocking the next exit. As soon as they caught sight of the detectives, they charged in to attack. Vector acted quickly and grabbed Charmy, bowling him into the leasing three robots. Espio took them head on instead, sneaking right by them and dealing blows when they least expected it.

"That takes care of that, then."

Espio continued through the next hall, where another four torches lined the walls. He stood still for a moment, then focused his energy and started spinning around, conjuring up a wind that blew out the fire. Espio had camouflaged in the process, but it got the job done.

"Heeeeeey," Charmy trailed, floating over the invisible Espio and to the far end of the hallway. "There's two more torches in here! Where's Espio so he can put them out?"

Two leafy winds whipped up from seemingly nowhere, ridding the torches of their flames as well. Charmy instantly started screaming.

"Vector! Vector! These torches just put themselves out and I bet that wind took Espio too!"

"Charmy," Espio scolded, returning back to sight with his arms folded. "That has to be one of your most outrageous theories yet."

"Espio! You're okay!"

"Yes…you do know that was me who put out the torches, right?"

"Ha ha…of COURSE! I was just making sure it wasn't a ghost or anything, heh…" he then looked thoughtful. "I know where they are, you know!"

"What are you talking about? "Vector asked, returning from battling with a ambushing robot. Espio just shook his head and waving it off.

"Forget it. We still have fifty torches to put out."

. . .

"The doctor must be playing games on us," declared Shadow. "Sending us on a wild goose chase through a castle and a mansion…he must be desperate to get away, which makes him all the more valuable of a prize…"

Rouge carried the group to a higher room, where an army of Egg Pawns were ready to fight. Once Rouge placed her team back on the ground, Omega took the lead and held up his blasters.

"Line up behind me," he ordered, Shadow and Rouge obeying instantly. The ground of robots advanced upon them, but Omega hurled Shadow and Rouge at them, followed by a barrage of blasts.

"Shame, I would almost appreciate the decor of this room…" commented Rouge, admiring the chandelier and the red ascents. "…if it wasn't for all the Egg Pawn statues lined along the walls."

Shadow sent metal flying as Omega went wild, both of them causing massive damage to their opponents. Just when they thought they were finished, and Egg Hammer descended down on them from the ceiling and took a few daring swings at the trio. Shadow back flipped out of the way and began to formulate a plan.

"Rouge, use me and perform Thunder Shoot to stun that thing," Shadow ordered, Rouge nodding in reply.

"Right. Then Omega can do his thing and attack it!"

"Objective accepted!"

Shadow jumped into Rouge's grasp as he yelled, "GO!"

Rouge spun around a few times before bowling Shadow at the Egg Hammer, the hedgehog suddenly becoming surrounded by an electric field. The Egg Hammer swung its mallet in Shadow's direction, but Omega stepped in the way and blocked the blow. This allowed Shadow to make direct contact with the torso, shocking the robot all throughout. He then ducked out of the way, Omega taking aiming at the head and blasting it several times. Rouge whistled at the firework spectacular until the Egg Hammer burst into nothing but pieces.

"And that's how it's done," Shadow smirked, fisting bumping Rouge.

"Eggman robots have been eradicated! This pleases me."

"Only Omega," Rouge chuckled, Shadow taking the lead and contently leading his team into the next corridor.

It would have been completely content if it wasn't for the screaming one room over.

"Dang," muttered Shadow. "Something must have really spooked that rabbit girl…"

. . .

"What in the world was _that_, Knuckles? !"

"I've never heard a higher pitched scream in my life, and Amy screeches my name every day."

Tails and Sonic were staring curiously at the echidna, with his eyes bugging out and a palm at his chest. He took a deep breath and pulled himself together.

"Ahem, uh, sorry. Lost my composure there for a second."

"Jeez, what causes you to lose your composure?" Sonic scratched his ear. "You know, besides me?"

Knuckles nonchalantly shrugged it off and took the lead, hoping to drop the subject. "I guess this mansion's just getting to me…I'd much rather be on my island, where things don't creep up on you and there are definitely no ghosts."

He glanced over his shoulder, just to make sure that the ghost he had seen wasn't still out for scaring. Luckily, he was able to take his mind off of it when a hulking Egg Hammer smashed through the wall, accompanied by three much smaller Egg Pawns. Knuckles snatched up Sonic and Tails and dispatched the Egg Pawns, but he was going to need a bit of a plan to take on the mallet-wielding machine.

"I'll keep it distracted," Tails offered, noticing the unsure look on Knuckles' face. "Then, Sonic can weaken it and prevent it from attacking, and then you can go in for the kill!"

Knuckles nodded, readying his fists. "Sounds plausible."

Sonic gave Tails a thumbs up, and the fox took off, getting the attention of the robot and its hammer. As Tails dodged the midair swings, Sonic rushed in, surrounding it with a whirlwind of blue. Once he was unable to be detected, Sonic threw himself at the robot several times, spin dashing into it and causing it to slightly malfunction.

Truth be told, Sonic could've went all the way and destroyed it single handedly, but the look of victory on Knuckles' face once he punched a hole through the torso of the Egg Hammer made Sonic glad that he didn't.

. . .

Cream innocently admired the pictures hanging on the walls, even though Amy personally couldn't depict what they were supposed to be of. She just wanted to get out of that creepy mansion, and possibly get revenge on whoever built, designed, and trapped them all in there to begin with.

"I think they kinda look like those robots," Big said.

Amy tilted her head, looking at the painting from another angle.

"…nah, I'm just not seeing it."

"Whoever did them definitely has a talent for painting!" Cream exclaimed, clasping her hands together.

Eventually, the well decorated halls came to an end, leading the group toward a small trolley. Amy wondered how in the world they were supposed to get it to work. As she checked it over and tried to figure it out, she felt Cream tug on her dress.

"May I suggest something, Amy?"

"Go for it, Cream."

"Well," She hovered over to the trolley and pointed to the front. "If Big sits up here, that would provide balance for this thing. I'll hang onto Big and fly over, so if we needed to jump, I can do that easily."

"And how do we make this thing go?" Amy asked, raising an eyebrow. Cream's gazing slowly rolled upwards as she began to rock on her heels.

. . .

"Guys, keep me covered!" Espio ordered as they walked into another room with Egg Pawns. However, there were also more torches, and they all knew the Egg Pawns weren't about to let them be blown out easily.

"Don't worry Espio- we've got it!" Vector assured, rushing ahead with Charmy. Espio nodded in thanks and got to work putting out the torches.

"Okay, bucket heads! If you want a fight, you've got one!" Charmy exclaimed, furiously punching the air. Two of the Pawns exchanged look before seizing Charmy on the spot. Vector rolled his eyes and slammed his fists on their heads. As they crumbled to pieces, they released Charmy back into the air. The bee gave Vector a nervous grin, but there was no time to stall- six more Egg Pawns were on the prowl.

"How ya doin', Espio?" Vector asked, guarding Charmy from the oncoming onslaught.

"Two more!" Espio called, already having put out two.

"M'all right…"

Vector started sucking in air, to which Charmy took as a sign to take cover. He hid behind Vector as the crocodile used his bubble gum technique, tacking all six robots to the red carpet. As they tried to escape in all the confusion, Vector grabbed Charmy and curved his throw, striking all of the robots in one shot. Once Charmy uncurled, he excitedly flew next to Vector and pumped his fists.

"That was sweet! I didn't know you could do that!"

Vector looked pleasantly surprised as he high fived he bee. "Heh, I didn't know either!"

"Looks like we're all done," stated Espio, reappearing in between them. He pointed forward, taking the lead and speeding to the next room.

Along the way, Espio took out another two torches, while Charmy activated a purple flower and teleported them to a separate part of the mansion. It brought them to the lower area, with the blue-bricked room and another two torches still intact.

"That's peculiar," Espio said while performing his action. "We bypassed a whole section of this mansion…"

"I hope we didn't miss any torches- we're at eighteen, now," Vector replied, pushing open the next doors.

"I'm just glad we don't have to put out the blue flame torches," interrupted Charmy. "So far, they're less in number, but twice the pain!"

"Anyway, whether or not we missed a torch, there's another flower." Espio gestured in front of the team. "Shall we trust this one as well?"

"Why not?" Vector shrugged, cuing Charmy to activate it. "Not like there's no going back now."

Thus, they allowed the flower to take them to the next leg of the mansion…

. . .

Turns out, Team Dark had their own corridor coaster as well- they just weren't enjoying it as much as Sonic, nor were they complaining as much as Knuckles. Omega was emotionless, Shadow was intent on making it to the over side in one piece, and Rouge occasionally punched the air with a "Woo hoo!"

"Ooh, this is really trippy…" Shadow groaned, watching as the walls twisted around then and gave them the illusion of spinning.

"This won't last for much longer," Omega announced, and it turned out he was right. The track ended abruptly, launching the group into what could only be perceived as a cave- below the castle, perchance? Either way, they landed in another cart and were off again.

They rode along in that one until they were brought back up to the main floor, where a blue-bricked passageway welcomed them with another door, which Shadow once again proceeded to bust open.

"…yikes."

They entered a large room with a skeleton inside, holding up two platforms. As Rouge complained that there was no legit way to get across, Shadow struck one of three switches in the room, causing the position of the skeleton's arms to reposition. Shadow smirked at Rouge, who then proceeded to fly the group from platform the platform. At the top was a room with a giant fan, with just enough strength for the gang to use Triangle Dive.

"This day just keeps getting stranger…" Shadow commented, summarizing the latest things they've been through. Rouge managed a shrug, despite their current formation.

"It's all right- you get used to it."

. . .

Team Rose was now flying over the rails on their ride, Big sitting contently in the front, Cream guiding them, and Amy being the source of movement. She acted as a wheel on the back of the trolley, making great use of her speed. As outrageous as Cream's idea had seemed, Amy had to admit it had worked, and now they were all pooling their strengths together just to make it out alive.

"This isn't so bad, is it?" Cream asked, almost enjoying cruising along the rails.

"It could be worse, I suppose," Amy mumbled.

Cream turned to Big, expecting a response from him, but he was focused on something else. Cream tilted her head to figure out just what he was looking at, only to realize, of all things, it was-

"A Chaos Emerald!"

Sure enough, resting on a ledge off to the side was none other than the purple Chaos Emerald. Big was practically hypnotized by its glow, but Cream eventually shook him out of it.

"We have to get it!" she exclaimed. "Big, use your fishing rod to knock it off the ledge!"

"Um, okay!"

Big pulled out his trusty fishing rod and got an angle on the emerald. He waited until they got closer, then cast out his line. The hook clinked against the emerald, just enough to nudge it off the ledge and somehow causing it to propel toward the cart. Cream yelped and flew over to it, catching the gem before it plummeted into the never ending abyss below.

"…what just happened?" Amy asked, unable to see just what occurred.

"Cream found another sparkly rock!" exclaimed Big. Cream hovered over him and dropped the emerald into his grasp.

"Don't lose it now!" Cream giggled, returning back to her position. "That means we have two now!"

"Awesome! When Sonic finds out we've got two of them, he'll do anything to get his hands on them! Even go on a date!"

"I'd like to think that they'll be useful to us in the future," Cream replied.

"I just like the color!"

. . .

"Well this is a long hallway!"

"C'mon, Charmy, let's go!"

Vector and Charmy took point, keeping an eye out for any robots or ghosts that would hinder Espio as he continued to rid the mansion of its torch mechanism. After putting out enough torches to bring the total up to twenty-five, Espio got a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"There's something wrong here…" Espio realized after circling through the hall after long enough.

"We're going around and around and around!" cried Charmy.

Vector did have to admit, it felt like they were passing the same thing several times…but if that were true, then shouldn't they have seen the torches that Espio had already put out?

However, it wasn't until they hit thirty torches that they found their means of escape-an open door at the end of the hall. It was also at this moment that their client decided to pester them again.

"What's the matter? You're only half way there and-"

"We know," Espio deadpanned, shutting him off instantly.

. . .

"I hate these contraptions," grunted Knuckles, sitting in the front of the trolley with his arms folded.

"Would you rather be in Sonic's position?" a hovering Tails asked, pointing down to Sonic who was propelling the trolley forward and acting as a wheel of sorts.

The look Knuckles returned to Tails was more than enough of an answer.

The trolley eventually came to an end, and Sonic took the lead, hoping to rush his team out of the mansion and the castle as soon as possible. They bounced from wall to wall, grinded on spider webs, and even jumped off a skeleton's head, but nothing could prepare them for what they were about to face next.

Dozens of Egg Pawns with lances advanced upon them, all lined up in little rows and marching like a true army. Sonic and Knuckles exchanged and nod, grabbed each other's wrists, and started spinning, the red and blue lending into a blur of purple and bulldozing through the squadron. Sonic's speed combined with Knuckles' power was the ultimate combo to wipeout the masses in record time. Eventually Knuckles let go of Sonic, momentum propelling the hedgehog forward and sending him flying straight through the remaining robots.

"All right!" Sonic braked to a stop, then bounced back to Knuckles and slapped him a high five. "That was awesome! We should totally do it again!"

"Yeah, I guess it was sorta cool," Knuckles mumbled. He then perked up and glanced around curiously. "Erm, wait…where did Tails go?"

Sonic stopped celebrating and froze in mid-step, looking all around for his little bro. Once he replied to Knuckles with a shrug, they heard Tails chuckled and gazed upward. Sure enough, their flying fox was up above their heads, sitting on a switch he had recently activated.

"Heh, I was just waiting up here until you two were done!" Tails flew down, gesturing forward. "See? The way forward is open!"

"Good job, Tails!" Sonic exclaimed, fist bumping his bro. "Heh, I'm looking forward to this!"

"Why's that?" Knuckles wondered, sticking his head through the doorway. He frowned instantly. "Oooh…"

Sonic and Tails grinned at Knuckles as they came across yet another trolley.

. . .

In the next area, Espio got started on the next few torches while Vector and Charmy scoped the placed out. Three Egg Pawns teleported into the narrow corridor, bolting forward with their lances extended. Vector aimed flames in their direction before they got close enough, weakening them so Charmy could crush them quickly.

"Ooh, these windows sure are spooky…" Charmy trailed, looking through them as they allowed moonlight to drizzle into the hall. "Talk about creepy…"

Espio finished with his torches and headed toward a gap in the hallway. "Well, there's four more- let's keep going."

He wall jumped over the gap, taking Vector and Charmy across as well. However, there wasn't a place for them to land, thus they fell downwards.

"So much for being careful not to fall," mumbled Espio.

"Grab onto me boys!" Vector exclaimed, rapidly chewing his gum. With little choice, Espio and Charmy gripped Vector as he began to blow a bubble.

"Vector, this is no time for one of your bubble gum tricks-"

"It's the perfect time, actually," Charmy interrupted Espio, looking down. "There's a fan down there!"

The fan blew the bubble and the Chaotix back to the top of the room, where Vector was able to get a footing on a ledge that opened up above their head. He popped his bubble and Espio returned to the lead. He put out two torches that greeted them at the entrance to the next room before proceeding.

"More robots- but at least there are no torches this time," warned Espio, taking a fighting stance.

"That makes it all easier!" exclaimed Vector, slamming two Egg Pawns' heads together. He then called for Charmy and bowled him into three more, just like before. Espio, meanwhile, vanished from sight and performed kicks and spins on the machines, leaving them not knowing what had caused their fate. He returned to sight with a smirk evident on his face, but it was quickly replaced with focus and attention as Charmy pointed out more torches.

"Who would've thought a way forward would be up here?" Espio wondered, putting out another four torches.

"You think the other teams are doing all right?" wondered Charmy curiously. "What if we're the only ones that are making progress?"

"I doubt that, Charmy," Vector stated, continuing to walk forward. "…but it's not impossible.

. . .

Team Dark wove through the corridors and ascending the flights of stairs, feeling that it was safe to say that they were probably lost. The Chaotix hadn't put out all the torches, and Rouge had a feeling that the way out wouldn't be revealed to them until the Chaotix had done so.

But now, they were on a cart once more, making their way through the cave basement a second time.

"You all ready?" Shadow asked, receiving nods as he got the cart going.

While they were riding, they came across a second track in the room, one which Team Rose was currently cruising on.

"Hi guys!" Big called cheerfully, waving at the opposite team. Omega instantly took aim and targeted.

"Intruders pose as threat to mission!"

"Easy, Omega," Rouge interrupted, halting the robot before he did anything drastic. "We ran into them at the front of the mansion- but they're the last team we need to worry about.

"What's s that supposed to mean?" Amy questioned, looking insulted. "We pose just as much of a threat as the rest of you!"

"Hardly," Shadow muttered under his breath.

Before Amy (or even Cream) could get in another word edgewise, a third track entered the room with Team Sonic jettisoning in on their trolley. Amy waved to Sonic, Rouge winked at Knuckles, Omega ranted about the enemy being only a short distance away, and Sonic gave Shadow a smug yet friendly look.

"Looks like we all are heading to the same destination after all!" exclaimed Sonic.

"It looks like it," Shadow replied. "The only question is, who shall reach it first?"

"Us, obviously," Amy butted in. "We'll nab that Eggman and Sonic'll be so proud of me!"

Sonic moaned loudly as Cream added, "Yes, we'll make him sorry that he kidnapped Froggy and Chocola as well!"

"Sorry about your friends, kids, but we've got more serious issues to deal with," Rouge said with a wink. "We'll be getting to Eggman and taking what we need."

"You're a lot of talk," scoffed Knuckles. "You're just in it for the loot."

"That's…not completely true…"

"No one will be getting out of here if the Chaotix don't hurry up…" Tails whispered, wondering where the final team was at that moment, or if they were close to finishing up.

. . .

Now two-thirds of the way free with forty torches, the Chaotix continued to barrel through the mansion to find the remaining twenty. Espio had already cleaned out two more, which technically left only eighteen to deal with.

"At least they're not eighty robots," Vector pointed out, seeing that Espio was becoming a bit exhausted. Espio noticed Vector looking slightly concerned and pulled himself together.

"Well, that is a good thing, but I can handle this. I simply suppose all my spinning and camouflaging is taking a toll…"

"It's been awhile since you've actually had a reason to camouflage and whatnot," Vector told him. "We've all been doing more work within the last two days than we have in the last five months!"

"Psh, five months? Try years on for size."

Espio jogged to the middle of four more torches, whirling around and blowing them out as well. Vector then broke through a crack in the wall, revealing a new path forward and two more torches. Charmy quickly went ahead as Espio took care of the torches once again.

"It's another room, you guys!" Charmy felt the need to announce, struggling to get the door open. "Vector, a little help?"

"You seriously can't open a door?" chuckled Vector, walking over and bashing it down. Charmy gave him an intent stare- or at least, as much of one as he was capable of giving.

"That door is like ten times the size of me!"

"I think we have a bigger problem than that door…" Espio trailed, nudging the members of his team and pointing forward.

"Eek!" Charmy gasped. "It's a giant spider web!"

"…should we grind on it to cross over?"

. . .

"What is this place?" Rouge asked, gaping at the "room" around them. It looked like someone has transformed the walls into water, and took everything out of the room with the exception of three bridges and three altars.

"Ooh, I dunno, but this is the worst one yet!" exclaimed Amy. "This gives me the creeps!"

"How do we get out of here?" Big wondered, glancing at Omega. The robot was currently scanning the vicinity.

"Detecting three switches…"

"Huh, I guess they wanted to challenge us," Shadow stated, scratching the back of his ear.

"Well, if there are three altars, then we could all split up and find the secret to getting out of this room," suggested Tails. "It would require a little cooperation-"

"And teamwork!" sang Sonic.

"-but it would be beneficial."

"I succeed to see the logic," claimed Omega. "Proceed to third altar!"

"We'll take the first one, then!" Cream offered, already running off with Amy and Big in tow.

"Yeah, we'll do anything for Sonic!"

"Anything to get out of here!" added Big, his knees quaking as he ran.

"Guess that means we'll take the middle," Knuckles stated. He started to walk off in that direction, only for Sonic to fly by and grab his wrist while Tails flew alongside them.

Cream rushed over to the first platform, where the watery "walls" around them quickly changed to a bright yellow. It was almost blinding, but Cream didn't seem to mind- she just wished she could find where the switch was.

"It's across there, Cream," Amy realized, spying a platform a little ways off from where they were. "Looks like you'll have to fly us over there!"

"I'll do my best!"

Team Rose assumed flight formation, the three of them skipping across the platforms and going out of their way to hit that switch. Two robots awaited them, but as Amy and Big took care of it, their flight member hit the switch, the first out of three.

Meanwhile, back with Team Sonic, the area around their altar morphed to a cobalt blue. Sonic whistled at the pleasant color change, only to be pulled away by Knuckles yelping.

"Let's…leave this to Sonic," Knuckles suggested, eyeing a whole row of ghosts leading over to where the switch was. Sonic glanced from the switch to Knuckles and went for it.

"Well, okay! If you insist!"

As Sonic spin dashed into the ghosts consecutively, Tails trotted up to Knuckles with a smug look on his face.

"You really don't like ghosts, do you?"

Knuckles grunted, folded his arms, and turned away. "Remember when we were infiltrating Eggman's base in the desert five months ago?"

"Yeah, sure, but-"

Tails was interrupted by a stab to the back, Knuckles grabbing him before he stumbled to the ground. They both turned and glared at the offender, being an Egg Pawn that thought he was absolutely hilarious. The fox and the echidna shared in punching its lights out, just as Sonic returned after activating the switch.

"…I missed something again, didn't I?"

And on the third altar…

"Of course we get the difficult one," scoffed Rouge, watching the Egg Hammer arrive out of thin air. The "walls" around them turned red, signaling that Omega would be the most effective for this altar. Regardless, Shadow rushed past Rouge and struck the machine, making quite the dent.

"We get the difficult one because we're the toughest to deal with," Shadow claimed, throwing himself at it once again. Rouge huffed and put her hands on her hips.

"You've got to be kidding me. Have you forgotten that you had your butt handed to you by Sonic and his friends?"

"That was because I was caught off guard," Shadow insisted, he and Omega hitting the Egg Hammer with an onslaught of offense. "Now, would you care to assist us in taking this thing down?"

"Gladly."

Rouge grabbed Shadow by the arm, flew away from the Egg Hammer, then furiously swung him at it. Shadow became engulfed by an electric field before crashing face first into the sturdy metal. However, the robot was rendered immobile, allowing Omega to plow both Shadow and Rouge into the clunker and put it out of commission.

"Robots disassembled!"

. . .

Vector awkwardly tried to keep his balance as he and his team maneuvered across the giant spider web, looking for the rest of the torches…and a way out of the room. Espio was more afraid of running into the spider that made the web than anything else. However, Charmy did feel the need to add-

"Be careful not to fall!"

And then Vector said, "It's really dangerous here!"

As if they really needed to be told.

"You guys see an exit?" Espio asked, scouring around himself.

"No," replied Vector, but it do see two more torches that will bring our total to fifty.

Espio grinded away to go take care of it as Vector and Charmy kept searching. Not only did they find the exit, but another pair of torches on the other side of the area as well. Vector and Charmy decided to give Espio a bit of a break and went to deal with the torches themselves. Vector put his torch out by throwing several wads of gum up there, while Charmy flew right up to the flame and blew it out like a birthday candle. They exchanged a thumbs up before grinding on the web again and meeting up with Espio at the exit.

"There's a switch up there, Espio," Vector discovered. Espio glanced up, only to see a switch hanging upside down from the ceiling, being guarded by a sleeping robot, and surrounded by lasers. Espio only needed one glance to give him motivation to give Vector a look.

"What."

"Well, I'm too big to get in there undetected and unless you really want me to trust Charmy to be stealthy and stay quiet, you're the one for the job, Espio!"

"Yeah, Espio! Use those honed ninja skills of yours!" Charmy exclaimed, performing "ninjitsu" moves in the air.

"I don't meditate every day for this…"

Espio easily slipped between the lasers, stalked behind the motionless robots undetected, and tossed up a shuriken, striking the switch and absorbing the room in white light.

Next thing they knew, they were falling down.

"WAAAUGH!"

"Vector, stop screaming."

"Sorry- natural reaction."

They landed in a room with red flames sitting on regular, non-skeletal torches, circling the center of the room. Espio went around and put out all four of them. Meanwhile, Vector took a look around the room and felt awfully uncomfortable.

"Why does it look like this room is made of water?"

"It's probably an illusion to scare off intruders such as ourselves," Espio suggested. "But, there's no more red torches in here, and there's only four left, so we'd better head on out. Charmy?"

Charmy nodded and flew to the far side of the room, tapped a purple flower, and teleported the group to what would probably be their final stop.

. . .

With the three altar switches activated, Teams Dark, Rose, and Sonic were transported to the far end of the mansion, where Team Chaotix was putting out the final four torches. Vector and Charmy waved at them as Espio whipped up one last Leaf Storm, the winds blowing out the torches. With this, the two large doors blocking them from the outside world simultaneously whooshed open, and the other nine heroes stampeded out of the mansion on the spot. Charmy simply gaped as Espio was stuck spinning around in place.

"Well, their gratitude is rather blatant, innit?" Vector grumbled, grabbing Espio and marching out the door.

"We do all the hard work and not a word of thanks!" Charmy exasperated.

The three of them joined the other nine, only for all twelve of them to fall silent upon the appearance of their shared goal:

Doctor Eggman.


	19. Robot Storm

Because We're Sonic Heroes

Chapter 18: Robot Storm

Everyone had sprinted out of the mansion, some of them more scared out of their wits than others, but all were still somewhat surprised to be in the same area at the same time- had it been like this the entire adventure?

"I knew we could do it!" Rouge exclaimed, leaning on Knuckles and grinning as he blushed.

"Don't let your guard down just yet," Shadow warned, having a feeling that something was coming.

As the others tried to sort out the mass confusion amongst themselves, Eggman finally arrived on the scene, right on cue. The musings stopped instantly, all twelve pairs of eyes turning to their common target, silhouetted by the oversized moon.

"Trying to stop us now? What a joke!" Espio barked, a shuriken placed neatly between his two fingers.

"What did you say? Now I'm really mad!" Eggman boomed, pounding madly at his dashboard like an angry ape.

"There you are, you mustache moron!" Vector bellowed. He then brought the walkie talkie up to his ear for confirmation. "He's the one, right?"

"Mustache moron? I'm the world's greatest…_Ahhum_…yes, take him out, quickly."

"...This is going to cost you extra."

"Mustache monkey!" Amy blared, busting out with an insult similar to Vector's. "You took Chocola and Froggy, _didn't you_?"

"Hmph! What if I did…then what?"

"Please return Chocola…" Cream begged.

"Chocola!" echoed Cheese.

Big also demanded, "Give back Froggy!"

Eggman rolled his eyes, catching sight of Shadow instantly striking a fighting pose out of the corner of his eye.

"What do you think Omega?" Shadow asked, restraining himself from tearing the doctor limb from limb right then and there- he needed confirmation that it _wasn't_ fake before he attempted that.

"Sensors jammed. Real Eggman ID not possible."

"We'll just have to find out, won't we?" shrugged Rouge with an amused look.

"What's the matter? Cold feet?" Eggman mocked to them all. "Well, then. Here I come!"

He summoned a mass horde of his greatest creations, filling up the sky like it was a robot tempest. Some gasped, some scowled, but only one threw himself into the eye of the storm.

"That won't stop us, doctor," Sonic growled, being the first to act against him. "That is, if it's really you…"

"Do your worst- these robots won't be demolished so easily by yourself!"

"Well, then," Sonic braked to a stop and glanced over his shoulder. "I suppose I won't do this by myself then!"

"You've got a plan, Big Blue?" Rouge asked, folding her arms and looking curious.

"Not really, _but_-"

"I do, if you'll hear me out," Tails interrupted. Everyone turned their attention to Tails, including the storm of robots creeping up behind them. "It's simple, really- Eggman has it rigged up so that every time we defeat a wave of his robots, a switch will take us to the next area, where more robots are waiting. If we each take turns in defeating the robots, it should increase our odds considerably."

"Teamwork? I guess we can work with that," Vector said, nodding in understanding.

"I'll do anything if it'll help Sonic out!" exclaimed Amy.

"Sounds good to me, though I'm pretty sure Omega could handle them all by himself!" Rouge chuckled. Omega complied eagerly in the background.

"In that case, let's get moving," Shadow barked out, already skating toward his destination. There was no point in arguing with his proposition, so the twelve heroes split, ready to show the doctor that they meant business…because they apparently hadn't the last five times.

. . .

"There was something strange about the client," Espio mumbled, trotting to the west side of the battle area.

"Don't worry about it!" exclaimed Charmy, completely oblivious to any doubt he should've had about the client. Espio turned to Vector for a more reliable response, but the crocodile was already battling with a Flapper.

"We've gotta take care of this guy first! Ready?"

Espio eventually decided to focus on the problem at hand and plunged into their portion of the robots. He tackled a gold-colored one to the ground as Vector and Charmy continued to use their team-up technique that they'd been using through the mansion. Vector would stun or weaken the robots with gum or fire, then Charmy would bowl through them and send scrap flying everywhere.

"They're closing in!" Charmy cried, referring to a circle of spear-wielding Egg Pawns. Vector tossed Charmy onto his back, took a breath, and heaved, flames hitting every robot and causing them to blow up. Eggman, watching all the groups from the shadows above, pounded his fist on the keyboard again and practically grinded his teeth.

"No mercy! Go all out!"

A squad of twelve Egg Pawns materialized on the west side, with one of them being a tough looking gold one. Vector and Charmy turned their attention to them as Espio vanished, sneaking into the middle of the robot group before going nuts with everything in his arsenal.

"Fear my ninja power!" he yelled, throwing shurikens in every direction and running around in a flurry of magenta. Even after his camouflage wore off, he was chopping off robot arms and tripping them up as well. As Espio demolished the troop from the inside, Vector was practically crushing the metal between his hands, followed by smashing the remains with Charmy.

"Take this!" shouted Charmy, bouncing into another golden robot and causing it to shatter on impact. With that, the way was clear, and a cage surrounding a switch disappeared. Shadow rushed by them, somewhat impressed as he hit the switch.

"That was quick work…"

"The work of professionals," Vector replied, not missing a beat.

Team Dark decided to take on the second wave, which consisted of a ton of Egg Pawns, three Egg Magicians, and an Egg Hammer. Quite the step up compared to what the Chaotix had to deal with.

"No time for messing around," Shadow declared, taking charge. "Let's get ready!"

"Okay," Rouge shrugged, already thrusting her leg into the nearest clunker. Omega, meanwhile, jumping into the center and let loose with all he had.

"I've been ready!"

Shadow went for the Egg Pawns, since he could handle those relatively quickly. Three charged at him, aiming to impale him with their lances, but Shadow leapt up and allowed them to skewer each other. He alighted back on the ground and swept his leg under another two Egg Pawns, sending them to the ground. Three more noticed their fallen comrades and ran at Shadow, but Shadow kicked the two grounded Egg Pawns and bowled the rest over.

Meanwhile, Rouge went against the Egg Magicians, who continued to heal up the Egg Pawns that Shadow demolished. Every time she flew in to attack, they'd sidestep her and whack her with their staffs. After spiraling out of the air for a third time, Rouge pushed herself off the ground and motioned for Shadow.

"Busy at the moment!" he grunted back, punching through two regenerated Egg Pawns. She huffed, grabbed Shadow, and hurled him at one of the Magicians.

"Well, _forget that_, I'm helping you!"

Shadow yelped from the abrupt stop to his battling and making sudden contact with the Egg Magician. Still in midair, he noticed that the other two were getting ready to heal their fallen friend, but he curled up and hurled himself into them consecutively, getting rid of the Egg Magician problem.

"All right," muttered Shadow, turning the tables and grabbing Rouge. "Now _you_ can help me."

Six Egg Pawns remained, with Shadow spin dashing three and Rouge slicing her leg through the rest. The bat returned to the ground and brushed back a stray piece of fur.

"Well, that could've been worse!"

"Ahem, you're not forgetting this guy, are you?" Shadow asked, jerking his thumb over his shoulder at the Egg Hammer. Omega was currently locked in battle with it, and he was doing a pretty good job holding his own against it.

"I require immediate assistance," Omega told them, spinning around to avoid a hammer swing before firing again. Shadow and Rouge hurried over, with Omega tossing Rouge, and Shadow striking from behind. The Egg Hammer recoiled a bit from Rouge, but Shadow's attacks merely glanced off of it. It turned around, hammer raised and ready to strike the hedgehog. Shadow jumped out of the way easy, but he didn't anticipate the back swing and was knocked back.

"Ugh, this one seems to put up a bit more of a fight…" he groaned, returning to his feet and stopping to think.

"Did you expect any less?" Eggman interrupted, cackling at the hedgehog's misfortune. Shadow glared up at him before calling to Rouge.

"Rouge! Use your Chaos Emerald!"

"What?" Rouge shrieked, crashing into the Egg Hammer. She pulled herself away from it and shook her head at Shadow. "I…I can't use the Chaos Emeralds!"

"Then give it to me!"

Rouge complied instantly and tossed the white emerald over to Shadow, who caught it in his right hand. He then took out the green one and crossed his arms in front of his chest, causing the emeralds to glow from the close contact.

"Omega! Give me an opening!"

"Eradication commenced!"

Rouge flew up and held back the Egg Hammer's trademark weapon, while Omega rotated his weapons and let loose with a rain of bullets. Some clinked right off the exterior, but others went straight through and damaged the interior considerably. That's when Shadow curled up into a ball and blasted forward, supercharged by the presence of the two emeralds.

Rouge could only watch as Shadow shot through the Egg Hammer like a rocket, causing it to explode mere seconds afterward. Shadow uncurled himself before he rolled right off the edge, tossing Rouge's emerald back to her. As she caught it, the next switch was released, and everyone raced toward it on the spot. However, Amy rushed over to Rouge and stared at her curiously.

"You've got Chaos Emeralds too?"

"Sure, hon," Rouge smirked, tossing hers before slipping it back in her pocket. "You should know that I love a precious gem! They're perfect, like me!"

Amy scoffed and jogged to the teleporter, Rouge following without another word. The next round was going to be fought by Team Rose, and Amy was extra eager to get going.

"Let's do this for Chocola and Froggy! Are you ready?" Amy asked, leading the way with her hammer held high above her head.

"Absolutely!"

"For Froggy!"

However, their enthusiasm shrunk considerably when seven Flappers, some red and some pink, descended upon them, along with another Egg Hammer. Cream recoiled on the spot, but Big opened up his umbrella, cuing his female teammates to jump up on top and start spinning around.

"What exactly does that do?" Tails wondered, scratching his head on the sidelines.

"By the looks of it, I think it grants invincibility," stated Espio.

_"How?"_ Rouge asked incredulously.

Amy smirked as she felt the power of invincibility tingle throughout her being, the same going for Big and Cream. With nothing able to hurt them, they ran right at the robots, Amy demolishing Flappers on the spot. Cream assisted Amy just by jumping on them, knocking them out of the air and allowing Amy to swat them right out of the area.

Once the Flappers were finished, they hurried over to Big, who was holding off the Egg Hammer.

"Need some help, Big?" Cream asked, bouncing over to his side.

"Yes, it would be nice."

"Hurry, before our invincibility wears off!" ordered Amy. Big and Cream complied instantly, with Big picking up the rabbit and bowling her into the Egg Hammer. The force knocked it onto one foot, causing it to swing around and lose its balance. Amy then jumped up, grinning as she gripped her own hammer.

"Your hammer is impressive, but it's got _nothing_ on mine!"

She did a front flip and brought the face of her hammer down on its head, sending it flat on its back and causing it to break in the process. Big tossed the remaining pieces off the edge as the next switch opened up- however, this time instead of a switch, it turned out to be a cannon.

"Oh great, just what we need," Knuckles grumbled, jumping into the cannon with Tails.

"How come their Egg Hammer went down easier than ours?" Rouge asked Shadow as they made their way to the cannon as well.

"Yeah, _their_ robots were the easy ones…"

"Wow, we were pretty good!" Amy exclaimed, jogging to the cannon with Cream and Big.

"Surprised me, actually," interrupted Sonic, causing Amy to freeze in her tracks.

"What're you saying? That it's a surprise that my team and I took down one of Eggman's tougher robots?"

"Yeah," Sonic chuckled and edged toward the cannon. "I mean, you could hardly pick a fight with us back at the Power Plant-"

"Don't forget, I broke into a military base just to bust you out of jail. Remember that, huh?"

"Ooh, well played," Sonic jumped into the cannon, grinning at Amy with just his head sticking out. "Either way, you did do a good job getting rid of that robot, whether it's surprising or not."

He winked, disappearing into the cannon and blasting off to the next area. Amy blinked, dumbstruck for a moment, before jumping into the cannon herself and yelling at Sonic to get back to her.

Once Sonic caught up with the rest of his team, he found they were already battling the fourth wave.

"Decided to join us after flirting with your girlfriend?" muttered Knuckles, bringing his fist straight into an Egg Magician. Sonic put on a blank look, chose to ignore that, and threw himself at a robot himself.

"It's payback time, Eggman!"

They were greeted by red and Green Flappers, three Egg Pawns, two Egg Magicians (one of which Knuckles already took care of), and an Egg Hammer. Tails took hold of Sonic and performed Thunder Shoot on the Egg Magician. Knuckles, meanwhile, found himself surrounded by the Egg Pawns and the Egg Hammer.

"Back…OFF!"

He launched himself in the air and instantly came back down, thrusting his fist into the ground. The surrounding Egg Pawns stumbled backward while the Egg Hammer was knocked off balance.

"Guys…I could use some backup!" Knuckles barked, swatting away the Flappers. It was then that the Egg Hammer prepared to bring its weapon down on Knuckles, but the echidna lifted his palms and held off the attack for as long as he could.

"I'm coming, Knux!" Sonic called. "Tails, toss me over!"

"There ya go!"

Sonic was hurled in Knuckles' direction, targeting all the Flappers and spin dashing his way to Knuckles. Once he reached the echidna, he threw himself into the Egg Hammer, curling up into a ball and spinning rapidly. The Egg Hammer kept trying to crush Knuckles, but Sonic was slowly wearing away the robot's metal armor.

It wasn't until Tails kicked it in the head did it move, allowing Knuckles to shove back the hammer and for Sonic to saw a hole into the Egg Hammer with his quills. Knuckles then picked up the remains and spun around with them, tossing them into the remaining Flappers and any lingering Egg Pawns. The other teams, standing off to the sides, just gaped as the final switch was released.

However, once they were all on the last platform, they were confronted by all types of robots that Eggman had been throwing at them. Nearly everyone gasped- Big in particular looked like he was about to faint.

"We're outnumbered!" exclaimed Espio.

"It's an endless sea of robots!" cried Charmy.

"O-Kay, who wants to take this one on?" Vector asked, glancing nervously as the duo Egg Hammers looked ready to strike at any moment.

"We'll all have to fight this round," Sonic realized. He pointed in three directions, shouting out requests. "Okay, anyone who can fly can deal with the Flappers and Egg Magicians, anyone that's fast- but not anywhere _near_ as fast as me- should take care of the Egg Pawns, and the tough guys that are left should get rid of the Egg Hammers. And-"

"Crush them!" roared Eggman, his final troop of robots beginning to advance.

"Just go! Just go!"

Tails, Cream, Rouge, and Charmy veered to the left, catching the attention of the Flappers. They all began to circle the group of four, with Tails' young mind racing for a plan.

"All right, if we're going with what Sonic said, we'll need to get rid of these Flappers as fast as possible, which will attract the attention of the Magicians. Once they appear, we're going to have to demolish them quickly so they can't make repairs!"

"The bee and I will deal with the Magicians," Rouge offered. "You and rabbit girl can deal with the Flappers."

"Just be ready- they'll be over here quickly!" exclaimed Cream.

"No problem! I can handle anything!" Charmy assured.

"Then let's go!" Tails grabbed Cream, and the two of them flew over the Flappers. He lightly tossed Cream at the first two, performing Thunder Shoot and short circuiting them. Cream then uncurled and tossed Cheese, her beloved pet Chao bouncing off each of them and leaving them in shambles. As they both started jumping on them and kicking them to the ground, the Egg Magicians finally arrived on the scene, ready to repair their fellow robots.

At least, they were before Rouge and Charmy struck.

Rouge bowled Charmy into the first one to distract it, then proceeded to Tornado Kick the rest that advanced upon her. Charmy uncurled and bounced on top of them, even unintentionally stabbing one with his stinger.

"I've had enough of these guys!" sighed Rouge, drearily kicking yet another robot.

"They just don't know when to quit!" exclaimed the bee, still jumping on one after ten times.

"Annoying little pests, aren't they?" agreed Rouge. She and Charmy continued to bounce and kick the Magicians, and eventually they were weakened to the point where they were put out of commission. The same went for Tails, Cream, and the Flappers. Tails then noticed that a Magician was still active, and quickly smacked it away with his tails.

"We won't give up so easily, Eggman!" Tails declared, high fiving Cream and Charmy.

"Yeah, you're finished!" added Charmy.

"Heh, that's one way to beat a robot," Rouge smirked, glancing at Tails. "Not bad, kid."

"I just do what I can," Tails admitted, rubbing his arm.

"No! There's no way the likes of you could have demolished all those robots so easily!" Eggman shouted, twitching uncontrollably with frustration.

"You've underestimated us, haven't you?" Rouge asked, folding her arms and glaring back.

Meanwhile, in the center of the area, the Egg Pawns were standing their ground against the speed characters, with Sonic in the front, as expected.

"Come and get some, Eggman!" challenged Sonic, running at the Egg Pawns with Shadow, Espio, and Amy. Eggman, now focusing his attention on them, just shook his head.

"Perhaps now you'll fear my unparalleled creations!"

"They're just useless pieces of junk…" grumbled Shadow.

"Just how many ARE there?" wondered Amy, still swinging her hammer into any that came her way. "Robot freaks are _so_ disgusting!"

"Time to give up!" yelled Espio.

The Egg Pawns were a massive group, and Shadow, Amy, and Espio had no idea how to go about attacking them. Sonic realized he'd have to make the first move and started running in circles around them, beginning to create a whirlwind. Shadow caught on and joined him, along with Espio.

"Oh, I dunno if I can run that fast…" Amy trailed, watching the blur of blue, black, and magenta go around. "…but I'll do my best!"

She joined in as well, the four of them creating a massive whirlwind that might as well have been a tornado at that point. The Egg Pawns were whipped violently into the air, with Sonic and Shadow jumping out of the funnel and attacking the machines. Sonic spin dashed into several of them, while Shadow proceeded to kick and punch the ones closest to him. When the rest landed back on the ground, Amy and Espio were quick to attack. Amy spun around with her hammer outstretched, smashing the Pawns with little thought. Espio, meanwhile, camouflaged himself and struck without being noticed, the robots collapsing from unseen forces.

"Heh, not bad!" Sonic stated, returning back to the ground and performing a sweep kick. Several more Egg Pawns careened to the ground, with Amy jumping over and finishing them off. Espio returned back to sight and tossed a few shuriken, each striking metal. Shadow, meanwhile, threw a robot to the ground and glanced up at Eggman, the doctor looking down on them with a superior grin.

"Doctor, stop this senseless fight!" Shadow exclaimed, a hint of begging in his tone.

"No way! My plan's too far along to go back now!"

"What _is_ your plan?"

"Fool! You'll find out by the end of tomorrow just _what_ I'm planning!"

"Not if I can help it!" yelled Sonic, holding up the head of an Egg Pawn. He curled up and spun several times before releasing it, the part hitting Eggman square in the shoulder.

"Serves him right," huffed Amy, assisting Espio with finishing up the Egg Pawns.

On the right side, Knuckles, Omega, Big, and Vector were tackling the Egg Hammers, even though it looked like they weren't about to give up anytime soon.

"Heh, I'm just warming up!" shouted Knuckles, running straight at one of the machines, only to be swatted away.

"Activation test unsuccessful…minimal resistance detected."

"What does that mean?" wondered Big, scratching his head. Vector shrugged.

"It's beyond me as well, pal."

"Looks like we need a game plan," grunted Knuckles, grabbing his arm. "Vector and I will take one, Omega and Big can take the other."

"Must I cooperate with the inferior being?" asked Omega, which completely went right over Big's head.

"Yes," Vector shot back, heading off to fight the first Hammer with Knuckles. Omega heaved the equivalent of a sigh and turned to Big.

"Oversized feline with undersized brain. Restrain this worthless consumer model with your implement for catching fish."

It took Big a few second to register what Omega was trying to convey to him before pulling out his fishing rod and snagging the Egg Hammer's neck. With a violent tug, Big pulled the Egg Hammer back, rendering it unable to swing its hammer properly. This allowed Omega a chance to open fire while its guard was down. The Egg Hammer managed to deflect a few shots with its hammer, but it was only fully defeated when Big swung his fist right between the robot's beady eyes. The Egg Hammer's head spun around chaotically, with Omega doing the final blow and causing it to explode. He turned to Big, who was happily cheering for himself.

"Perhaps you aren't as useless as you appear, feline."

"Makes me super duper happy!"

With the other Egg Hammer, Knuckles and Vector were trying to get an angle on it, but the machine wouldn't stay still for anything. Eventually Vector got tired of dancing around and popped some gum in his mouth. Knuckles glanced over his shoulder and gave Vector an incredulous look.

"You're chewing gum at a time like this? !"

"Wouldn't be the first time someone's told me that."

Vector then thrust forward and blew several bubbles, each of them striking the Egg Hammer at the legs and keeping it in the same spot.

"Let's just say I really know how to stick it to 'em!"

"I can safely say I can too!" exclaimed Knuckles, flying at it with his fist raised. He socked the Egg Hammer, leaving a nice dent in the torso, but it wasn't enough to completely demolish it. That's when Vector surprised Knuckles even more by spewing fire, scorching the Egg Hammer and weakening it further. During the confusion, Knuckles swiped the hammer, and managed to hold it over his head, grinning smugly before he swung it into his metallic opponent. His dent grew into a full on hole, causing the Egg Hammer to fully malfunction and implode on itself.

"Heh heh, that's gotta be the best case of a "Taste of your own medicine" that I've ever seen!"

"No kidding," chuckled Vector.

The three groups merged back into one, as every robot had been demolished. Sonic seemed the most disappointed.

"What, is that all?" scoffed Sonic.

"Is it finished?" asked Big.

"Argh, whatever," Eggman grunted, beginning to fly off once more. "Just remember, those were just the easy ones!"

"Is that _really_ the best you can do?" scoffed Amy.

"Hey Eggman, are ALL your robots the easy ones?" heckled Vector, folding his arms.

"You haven't even seen my _true_ creations…"

With what sounded like a warning, Eggman left the group at the castle, with little clue as to what to do next.

"Did he really think all those robots could stop us?" Espio hummed, putting away his ninja stars and folding his arms.

"We need a break from these robots," Tails panted, visibly exhausted.

"Keep bringing 'em on!" shouted Charmy as he punched the air rapidly. "We'll take 'em all out!"

Tails gave him a look of disbelief as Vector once again plucked him out of the air.

"Uh, yeah, that won't be necessary," Vector coughed. "Anyway, what was the doctor thinking- sending weak robots we've been trashing all this time out to defeat all twelve of us?"

"Not a very bright move for a genius," Knuckles snickered, hands held behind his head.

"Omega said that's not even really Eggman, especially if that Eggman robot we saw back in Rail Canyon was any indication," Rouge pointed out.

"Well if that wasn't him, then who was it?" wondered Cream.

"Sentry robot troop: destroyed!" Omega declared victoriously. Big glanced at Shadow.

"Does he always do that?"

"Unfortunately."

"Listen up, guys!" Sonic suddenly barked, getting everyone's attention. He stood on the remains of one of the Egg Hammers and raised his fist into the air. "Tomorrow morning, Eggman will begin his attack on the world with his massive Egg Fleet. If we don't stop it by the end of tomorrow, Eggman wins and it's game over!"

"So that's what he meant…" Shadow muttered under his breath.

"I know you all have different reasons for going after Eggman…whether to impress me, save a friend, get revenge, get answers, or simply because someone told you to…but none of us will be able to reach our goals if we don't stop that armada!"

He glanced up at the sky, wondering how far they were from the fleet itself.

"The real Eggman has got to be up there somewhere, I can feel it…you all can go about your business with little interference from my team if you so wish, but please, I'm begging you…don't let Eggman win the day. All of what we've been fighting for will have been for nothing… but all I ask is that you don't let Eggman get away with this."

Sonic looked on at a silent crowd, until Vector was surprisingly the first one to speak up.

"It may not completely be on our agenda," he began. "But after all the disruption the doctor has caused, _we'd_ be the bad guys to allow him to get away scott free. So you have the Chaotix's help, Sonic!"

"We'll do everything in our power to hinder his sinister plot," agreed Espio, clenching his fists dramatically.

"That bad man deserves to be punished!" Charmy cried.

"There's no way he's off the hook in our book," stated Rouge, arms folded and eyes closed. "We'll help you out, hon…at least, until it comes to a point where we'll need to take care of it ourselves!"

Knuckles rolled his eyes at that as Omega blared, "Doctor Eggman must be eradicated!"

"Whether I get my answers or not, Eggman will face the consequences of his actions," Shadow threw in, staring hard at the ground.

"At long as we find Chocola and Froggy, no problem!" exclaimed Cream and Big. Amy spun her hammer around and winked at Sonic.

"If it'll make you proud of me, then I suppose we could sabotage Eggman's plan as well!"

Sonic then smiled, giving everyone a thumbs up. "All right then! Thanks, guys."

He jumped off the robots remains, motioned for Knuckles and Tails, and took off into the night.

"Then let's go! We've got a fleet to catch up with!"

All the teams let out a battle cry in unison, allowing Sonic to lead the way to the fleet. Along the way, however, Espio turned to Charmy.

"How come people listen to_ him_ so easily?"

Charmy shrugged. "Maybe there's just something about him that you don't have!"

"Hmph, whatever. But I do have to agree, he _is_ pretty inspiring."

And with that, the twelve heroes took off into the night, hoping to reach their final destination in the morning…


	20. Egg Fleet

Because We're Sonic Heroes

Chapter 19: Egg Fleet

"Mwahahaha! You fools must all have a death wish! Witness this invincible battleship, built by the hands of a genius. It's power…unmatched throughout the universe!"

The four teams stood on separate ships of the Egg Fleet, but it was a meaningless fact, for they were all headed to the same destination. The Egg Fleet was huge, spanning across the entire morning sky, preparing to seize the third day. No matter how long it took, the heroes would reach the flagship the one true doctor was hiding on.

"Once we start a job, we finish a job! That's our policy," Vector replied confidently back at Eggman's booming voice overhead. "We're Team Chaotix!"

"If you want a fight, you've got one!" Amy exclaimed. She pointed forward, cuing Cream and Big to get moving. "Let's get that bloated buffoon!"

"You'll regret this, doctor…" grunted Shadow, casting out a hand. "Even if I'm not real…I'm still the Ultimate Life form, Shadow the Hedgehog!"

Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles were at the edge of the fleet as well, Sonic sporting a cocky pose before running onward with his team.

"Alright, Eggman…let's get this party started…"

. . .

"Okay, I'm sure you managed to overhear us on our job policy," Vector began into the communication device, grinding on the rails that wove between all the ships. "So, let's finish this job by you telling us what to do next."

"You next mission, which if we're lucky will be your second to last," the client started, sounding like he was on the edge of victory. "Infiltrate the fleet's whale shark flagship. Be careful not to be detected by enemies."

He hung up, and Espio seemed a bit irritated.

"That's our second to last mission? Get through Eggman's metallic flying school of fish without being detected? I had in mind that we'd be doing some more sabotaging of some sort…"

"Maybe we're getting to that," suggested Vector. Their grind rail ended on one of the ships, cuing them to take cover before they were spotted. "Maybe that flagship we've gotta get to is Eggman's main base of operations, and if we hit him where it really hurts, then perhaps the entire armada will fall apart!"

"Logical, but we can only find out for sure once we get there."

With that, Espio went silent, camouflaging himself and telling his team to stay close.

. . .

Team Rose was already on their toes for the morning- they had hardly announced their presence on the fleet when missiles started barraging out from nowhere!

"Looks like we may be in over our heads this time, guys!" Amy called, diving to the ground to narrowly avoid a stray missile.

"As scary as this place is," Cream began, cringing at the sound of an explosion. "It has to be where Froggy and Chocola are! Eggman admitted to taking them, so if he's here, they will be too…right?"

"If they're not, there's no place left to look," Big sighed. He shook his head. "It was easier to find Froggy back when he had a tail, that's for sure…"

"They're here somewhere guys, I can feel it," Amy assured, turning around to give them a smile and thumbs up. "We also promised to help Sonic take down Eggman, so we can't forget that either…I know that as soon as we show that fool we mean business once and for all, he'll probably hand back our friends on the spot!"

"Right!"

. . .

"We…are flying very high," Rouge commented, glancing down at the planet still spinning below them. If Eggman wasn't stopped, however, who knew if it would ever spin the same way again? "Hmm…we might even be on the edge of space!"

CRASH!

"Space?" Shadow trailed, having rammed right into a wall. He stumbled about a bit as he pulled himself together. "Did you say SPACE?"

"Uh…yes? Why? Does it spark anything?" Rouge asked, palpably eager. Shadow rubbed his forehead and looked bewildered.

"Mmrm…I feel like it's supposed to, but it's not…and everything you've told me just isn't clicking either…"

"It…It's all right," Rouge choked out, trotting next to Shadow. "Either they just need to come back on their own, or…or…"

"There's nothing to come back at all," Shadow finished gravely, Rouge sighing in defeat.

. . .

"Wow, that ship down there looks like a huge sting ray!"

"…we are at a lethal height in the air and you're worried about the shape of a ship?"

"I'm just trying really hard not to fall!"

Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails were grinding the rails down to their first destination, descending towards the first airship they hoped to decimate.

"Oh, come on," scoffed Sonic, leaping off the rail and freefalling. "This is nothing! Let's keep moving!"

"Nah," Knuckles replied, throwing up his hands as he alighted on his feet. "Let's just stick around and watch the view!"

"Just remember," Tails reminded them, flying down to join them. "We just need to find Eggman's flagship and bring that down. The rest of the ships will have no command and cease the invasion plan."

"So…what? Tons of metal ships are just supposed to careen back onto the planet?" Knuckles asked. "There's gotta be something wrong with that."

"You've got a better idea, Knuckles?" Sonic asked, peering out over the horizon on the top of a pole. Knuckles folded his arms and grunted.

"No, not really, but-"

"Then there ya go." Sonic returned his gaze to the groups of ship sailing through the sky. "Huh…it looks like each "school" has a massive battleship with little ones surrounding it…at least the Egghead got creative!"

"Sorry to break it to ya Sonic, but we don't have time to admire his craftsmanship."

Sonic front flipped off the pole and landed in front of Tails. "No problem, buddy. I was just scoping out what we're up against."

Sonic took the lead, he and his closest friends dashing off to go finally save the world.

"And by the looks of it…I think we're in for a lot."

. . .

The Chaotix were surprisingly alone on the ship they were walking on, Vector whistling at the sheer craftsmanship of it all. Espio was just stalking cautiously, just in case there was an ambush waiting for them.

"This is boring!" Charmy cried, his shrill voice piercing the silence. "Hey, Egg Pawns! Come out, come out wherever you are!"

"Charmy, we're supposed to be avoiding them, not drawing their attention!" Espio hissed under his breath, blending in with the surroundings the moment Charmy had shouted. "Your carelessness could compromise us…"

"Relax, Espio…" Vector walked ahead and hit a switch, opening the way down into their current ship. "There's no robots on this craft, and if there is, it's not like we can't take them out before they alert Eggman."

"Never be overconfident…" huffed the chameleon, but said nothing more as the team descended. The opening took them to the front of another ship, where Charmy took the lead and flew them over. As soon as they landed, Espio vanished into thin air and released several shuriken, just to make sure the coast was clear. When they all clanked against the metallic floor, Espio scooped them up and moved forward.

"Eggman must be really rich," Vector commented, looking very thoughtful as he followed Espio and Charmy down a corridor. "I wonder where he gets his funding?"

"Inheritance?" suggested Charmy.

"Sounds like the most probable explanation."

Eggman _really_ must've been rich, in order to build endless robots, several aircrafts, and to be able to equip them with defense mechanisms. Espio was disabling a wall of lasers as the other two discussed Eggman's income.

"Maybe he has a second job as a waitress," snickered Charmy. Before Vector or Espio could correct Charmy's crazed statement, their airship lurched and sent the three off them rolling towards the edge. Vector let out a startled wail, which was surprisingly better than his singing, as he grabbed the ledge at the last moment and caught Espio.

"_This_ is why we don't get distracted," Espio sighed.

"Even when you're dangling precariously on the edge of an aircraft on the limits of the atmosphere, you still feel the need to complain, eh?"

"Don't worry guys- I'll take the lead!" Charmy exclaimed. He grabbed Vector's arm, and although it was a bit of an awkward struggle, Charmy managed to get them to safety.

. . .

Amy felt her heart beat faster as adrenaline coursed through her body. She and her team were currently freefalling, and when you could see the majority of the planet on your way down, it was quite a rush. However, Amy landed somewhat shakily on a grind rail and heaved a sigh of relief.

"I can't believe we're up so high…"

"I see nothing but clouds down there. Better be careful not to fall," Big stated with immense intelligence. As Amy truly did focus on not falling, Cream couldn't help but shiver at the sheer size of the Egg Fleet. Dozens upon dozens of ship sailed across the sky, higher than the clouds, and if they ascended anymore, they'd be in space.

And that thought made Amy frown.

The three of them alighted onto a different airship, this one with grind rails twisting all around and platforms that weren't even connected. How they all managed to fly as one was beyond Amy, but then again, she never really understood Eggman's technology to begin with.

Big battered down a wall of boxes sitting in their way, followed by a cautious Cream carrying them over the gaps. Eventually something started shooting at them, and in a panic, Cream released.

"No- that'll put us in the line of fire!" Amy cried on the way down. Cream's eyes widened as she looked down- not only were turrets firing at them, but three Egg Pawns were as well. Cream instantly gasped at her mistake and she flew down to catch Amy, but wasn't fast enough to retrieve Big. The two girls watched as Big bounced on the ground, narrowly avoiding the recent round of projectiles. Once he landed on his feet, he whipped out his fishing rod and snagged one of the Egg Pawns, snapping it into the air and bringing it down on the other two.

"Whoa…"

"Look out!" shrieked Cream, still holding Amy by the hands in midair. Big glanced up to see the turret preparing to fire again, and he wasn't sure how to defend against it. As he flinched and prepared for the worst, Amy suddenly went flying into it, bursting on contact and preventing anyone from getting hurt.

"Yikes…" Amy trailed, rubbing her head as her static shock wore off. "Nice use of Thunder Shoot, Cream!"

"Thanks," Cream replied dejectedly, landing back on the ground. "I shouldn't have dropped you guys…"

"It's all right Cream; I've made much bigger slip-ups than that."

Cream looked curious. "Like what?"

Amy started to walk away, only to halt at Cream's question. Her ears slightly drooped in the process.

"Well…there was this one time where I was so obsessed with my own goals that I completely neglected how my friends felt about their own problems." She folded her arms and sighed. "Then, when I thought I finally had what I wanted…it all went wrong."

She turned and faced Cream, once again smiling.

"But at the same time, I figured out that trying to get what I want isn't as important as helping my friends…which means you guys come first, no matter what."

Cream had caught on to what Amy was saying and laughed…while Big pointed out that there were more grind rails up ahead and that it'd be very wise to not fall.

. . .

Team Dark was now descending at an alarming pace, thanks to a yellow grind rail. They were all used to the winds whipping by them as they rode the rails, but being so high up, the feeling was much different, almost like the air hardly had a presence. Rouge was deterred by this, while Shadow was visibly indifferent and Omega never really had an opinion on such matters anyway. Omega had much more important things to process.

"Must eradicate all Eggman robots!" he roared, leaping off the rail and taking aim at a pack of robots on the deck of the ship below them. Rouge grabbed Shadow and flew him down afterward, with the bat quickly veering to the left afterward.

"Whoa, what was that for?" Shadow asked, not enjoying being whipping around without forewarning. Rouge just pointed down, where a large cannon has blasted its ammo where they were once flying. Omega was off to the side, launching missiles with the intention of blowing up some metal.

"We've gotta watch out for those cannons," Rouge explained, setting Shadow on the ground. "Just stay out of their target range and we should be fine…"

"No problem," Shadow assured, joining alongside Omega and jumping into the fray as well. Rouge simply hovered in the air and allowed the boys to do their thing. As usual, the Egg Pawns were destroyed instantaneously, with Shadow walking away and Omega searching for more robots.

Rouge took the lead, carrying the group in flight formation to an upper part of the airship. Shadow released instantly, landing on the ground and blasting forward. Omega fell with a violent-sounding clank as Rouge looked completely confused. Shadow ran over to a grind rail, using it to reach the next ship. Rouge and Omega caught up with him afterward, after Omega blasted down a robot.

"Eggman's armada…" Shadow trailed, Rouge's perking up now that Shadow had finally decided to speak. "It's actually a magnificent sight."

"But why so many?" Rouge whispered. "I mean, we can count them by the dozen, crossing the sky like…a school of fish."

"Regardless!" shouted Omega, raising his guns. "We must destroy all of Eggman's ships!"

"No, Omega," Shadow interrupted. "We only need to destroy one ship- the flagship, which is the one that he's probably supervising him armada from…"

. . .

"It's probably a shame that I'm having fun," chuckled Sonic, riding the loops that the grind rails made in midair. "But I'm too high on adrenaline to care! Woo hoo!"

"Get too careless and you'll go flying off the edge," Knuckles warned. He and Tails were below Sonic, whirling their way through a squad of robots arriving on the deck. Knuckles eventually snickered as he crushed an Egg Pawn. "Yeah, I'd bet you'd hate landing on your head after falling from _this_ height!"

Sonic narrowed his eyes and jumped down to join his friends. "You don't even know what you're suggesting."

Before Knuckles could drum up some sort of response to that, Tails shrieked and instinctively took off into the air. Sonic and Knuckles braked to a stop and veered out of the way of a pink laser. Sonic rolled onto the ground, groaning and glancing at their attackers.

"Are you guys all right?" Tails asked, sounding slightly hysteric. Sonic sat himself up and nodded to the best of his ability.

"As all right as I'm gonna be after nearly being barbequed by a pink laser…" he stared hard at the robot, trying to figure out if he could recall seeing it before. However, its red and yellow color scheme and humanoid-like nature didn't quite register. "Strange…I have no idea what kind of robot that is."

"It doesn't matter!" shouted Knuckles, leaping off the ground and launching a fist at the contraption. "Anything made by Eggman can't be good!"

"There's always Omega," Sonic thought aloud. Tails, meanwhile, rapidly shook his head and flew towards the echidna.

"Knuckles! We have no idea what this robot is capable of! Throwing yourself at it may not be-"

Knuckles crashed head first into the droid's shield, causing him to collapse onto the cold metal floor with a massive headache. The droid then proceeded to grab Knuckles and charge up another laser.

Before it could, however, a blue and yellow blur bowled into the droid's legs, forcing it to lose its equilibrium. This also caused the robot to release Knuckles and fire a haywire shot. Tails uncurled away from Sonic and dragged Knuckles out of range while Sonic whipped up a whirlwind and redirected the onslaught of bullets the angry android was now firing.

"Looks like your temper is just as bad as Knuckles'!"

"Say what?" Knuckles grumbled, grabbing his head and moaning loudly. Tails simply folded his arms and tapped his foot impatiently- clearly something he picked up from Sonic.

"I told you not to dive head first into certain situations…and what happened? You literally dove head first into one."

"Argh, forget it," Knuckles grunted, glancing at the robot and how Sonic was doing his best to redirect its attacks. "How are we going to beat this?"

"Well, we could always rip off its shield and deliver a full frontal attack-"

"YAAAH!"

Tails and Knuckles gaped as Sonic propelled himself out of his little blue tornado, extended his foot, and brought it down in the android's hidden head. A shatter and an explosion rang out afterwards, with Sonic landing on the remains and happily giving his team a thumbs up.

"…or Sonic. We can just use Sonic."

Knuckles landed his face in his massive palm. "Of course."

. . .

"How could we have reached this altitude already?" Espio wondered, still a bit offset about his latest brush with death. He grinded on the rail to the next shark-shaped ship, watching the clouds pass carelessly below him. Charmy followed behind, his eyes visibly rolling in circles.

"Flying this high makes me dizzy!"

"You're a bee!" cried Vector. "You're supposed to be used to flying, aren't you?"

"Well, duh! But when's the last time you've ever seen a bee fly at the edge of sky, huh Vector?"

"I dunno, I'll have to recount all my previous trips of almost entering space!"

Espio groaned at the misconduct and tried to focus on keeping his balance- if he fell, then so would the other two. It would be much easier if they weren't bickering like two kids in the back seat of a car though.

When they finally reached solid footing, Charmy flew the group over several machine guns, gaps between platforms, and from aircraft to aircraft. Eventually they found another series of grind rails, which gave Charmy a brief break.

"There's so many of these flying ships…it can only be _Eggman's_ armada," Espio contemplated.

"Armada! Armada!"

"Everything's run by robots," pointed out Vector. "Guess the doc's pretty lonely."

"The path of evil tends to be a lonely one," agreed Espio. Charmy simply scratched his head.

"I still don't get it- Eggman's supposed to be good now! What would his incentive be for suddenly coming back?"

"Well…" Espio looked deep in thought. "If all the Eggmen we fought previously were robots, then could it be possible that there's a robot controlling the whole armada?"

"Well someone's gotta be controlling the robots," huffed Charmy. "After all, it's not like a robot itself is pulling strings behind other robots, right? …right?"

"Now we're just mass guessing." Espio jumped off the grind rail and into another ship. "Let's just get to the main deck, shall we?"

Charmy complied instantly, but Vector, for whatever reason, felt very unsettled.

. . .

Big closed up his parasol as the gust from a ventilation fan ended, which Team Rose used to reach a higher part of the airship. Amy gazed at the ongoing sea of metal sharks and other sea creature-like crafts, and wondered which one Eggman happened to be operating from. However, she didn't have time to figure it out when Cream quickly pushed her out of the way of a projectile.

"We have to stay away from those markers," Cream realized with fright in her voice, pointing to the encircled spot where they once stood. "That's where the cannons aim at!"

"Well, that's useful to know," Amy comment, blowing her bangs out of her face. "Much more useful than telling me not to fall!"

She gave Big a look, to which he only shrugged.

Picking herself up, she, Cream, and Big quickly jumped back to lower ground, hoping to get out of range of the cannons. Then, once they got close enough, Cream tossed Big at the cannons, where he proceeded to smash them and clear a way forward.

Cream then returned to the lead, carrying the group up to a midair spring. They bounced to the next airship, this time Cream not letting go until she was sure it was safe.

Of course, it's never safe.

Big stepped in front of the girls and held up his parasol in front of him as a red and yellow droid advanced upon them, its gun smoking from the latest shots. Amy and Cream poked their heads around the cat, only to retreat once more when another round was fired.

"Wow, this guy's mad," Big observed. "Want me to get rid of him, Amy?"

"Don't bother- he's got a shield," Amy huffed, pulling out her hammer. "I guess I'll just have to take care of it…"

"I don't have to tell you to be careful, do I?" Cream asked as Amy ran from her cover. Amy smirked.

"Of course not- now get over here you bucket of bolts! HYAH!"

Cream could only meekly watched as Amy literally threw herself at the robot, only to be deflected by the shield. She landed on her feet and charged again, this time attacking primarily with her weapon. Her swinging left a dent on the shield, but never managed to damage the robot itself. Amy growled in frustration until she noticed Cream out of the corner of her eye.

"Hey, that's not very nice!" Cream exclaimed, noticing that the droid was now taking aim at Amy once again. However, her shrill cry managed to get its attention, just in time for her to hurl Cheese in its direction. As the robot was distracted by Cream and Cheese, Amy rolled behind the creation, brought her hammer up, and whacked it in the back, hitting so hard that its "head" popped off. It ceased to function after that, with Amy battering the remains and Cheese returning to Cream.

. . .

"Come on!" Shadow yelled, soaring through the air after launching off a ramp. He glared down at the group of ships passing below him, but below that was the cloud-covered planet. He titled his head, the sight of the world under him feeling very familiar. "Huh…I always imagined it being a bit…bluer."

He, Rouge, and Omega finally landed on a grind rail, speeding back down to solid ground. However, as soon as they got their footing back, two red and yellow drones arrive on the scene, guarding the door to the rest of the current deck. Shadow grunted and performed a spin dash, only to ricochet off the shields they possessed. Causing a scraping sound when the metal of his shoes grinded against the floor, Shadow landed and looked about for another strategy…

…because Omega's wasn't working.

"Annihilate! Fire! Fire!" blared the battle robot, trying his hardest to make scrap metal fly. Rouge had to tell him several times that simply blasting at the drones wasn't going to work, but Omega carried on nevertheless. Rouge gave up on Omega and turned to Shadow.

"Do you have a game plan?"

Shadow stood straight and nodded to Rouge. "Hopefully it will be more effective than Omega's plans."

"My sensors have picked up that morsel of information, I hope to inform you…"

"Anyway," Shadow continued, pointing to the drones. "All you have to do is stun them long enough for me to get in a strike that they can't block."

Rouge winked at Shadow and weaved between Omega's onslaught. Since Omega's attacks were glancing off the shields, the droids weren't paying too much attention to Omega, but when Rouge flew up and used a more direct assault, their weapons were focused on her.

While they were focused on her, the Black Blur slipped behind them and thrust their heads together. The sudden clash was enough to get Omega to hold his fire as Rouge drill kicked into the discombobulated androids. She gave Shadow a thumbs up as Omega mumbled something about "it would have worked eventually."

. . .

"Who's ready for some parasailing?" Sonic asked, kicking open the doors ahead of them and gesturing toward a silver propeller. Knuckles took one look at it and grimaced.

"As long as we're not going to have a repeat of the jungle escapade…"

Sonic gave a thumbs up and vanished into a blur, cycling around the propeller until it took off. He grabbed on and ascended into the wind, with Tails and Knuckles jumping on. The three of them were brought up by a huge gust of wind, giving them a good vantage point of the situation.

"I wonder what all those are for," Knuckles pondered, gesturing to a group of yellow and black striped metal bars, seemingly floating without a purpose.

"I almost wish I knew…" murmured Tails. "I don't think there's anything to worry about, though. It looks like they don't have much purpose…"

"I think I know what their purpose is," muttered Sonic, turning the propeller to the right. Several bullets whizzed by the team, with Tails and Knuckles emitting startled screams.

"They're firing at us!" cried Knuckles.

"Yes, thank you for the memo, Captain Obvious," sighed Sonic, trying his best to weave around the deadly projectiles. "I'm trying to get us to a place where we can land!"

Tails and Knuckles had no choice but to hold on for dear life as Sonic battled through the air. Knuckles, however, couldn't resist telling Sonic when to go up and down, much to chagrin of the hedgehog, but he said nothing and heeded Knuckles' instruction.

Eventually, Tails pointed out that they were nearing a large battleship, so Sonic finally released the propeller and landed on the nose of the swordfish ship.

"Thank goodness that's over…" Knuckles breathed, stretching his arms. "Almost thought we were toast…"

"Eh, don't push your luck just yet."

Sonic grabbed Tails and Knuckles and took off as the cannons lined up and down turned and opened fire. A bunch of Flappers soared through the air and swooped down to strike them, but Sonic veered out of the way- as much as he could without whipping Tails and Knuckles all over the place. However, they were running right at a cannon…

"Knuckles, do you think you can punch that out?"

"Have a little faith Tails!" Knuckles wrenched away from Sonic and readied his arm. With one precise and deadly strike, the cannon in front of them became a pile of scrap. "I've taken down tougher contraptions that that!"

Tails grinned as Sonic continued to lead the way, pushing his team toward another small victory, still on their way to the big prize.

. . .

Charmy touched the tip of a purple flower, causing its metal petals to open up and teleport the detectives closer to their destination- or so they hoped. When the blue flash of teleportation faded away, Vector blinked and inwardly cringed. They had to be getting closer to the center of the fleet, for the ship they had been brought to was loaded with lasers, traps, gun turrets, and robots.

"So this is where all the action is being horded!" exclaimed Charmy, to which Espio rolled his eyes.

"Just watch each other's back, boys…" Vector warned, inching into the death-filled obstacle course.

As soon as they revealed themselves, all turrets turned and faced the trio. Espio took the lead and rushed them out of there as the deck was blasted with bullets. They rounded the corner right into a squad of Egg Pawns, where Vector stepped forward and spewed fire. The robots were scorched instantly, followed by the crocodile charging at them and using his fists to completely demolish them. The Chaotix continued to run until Vector smacked face first into a clear glass wall- and reinforcements were coming.

"Aw great, now what?" he grumbled.

"I'll take it from here!" Charmy offered, organizing the group into flight formation. Vector's feet lifted off of the ground just as the Egg Pawn came running, doing what Vector did and smashing into the clear wall.

However, they fell to pieces afterward.

Vector chuckled to himself as Charmy brought them over the wall and set them safely on the other side. The bee then proceeded to make faces in the glass, which drew more low AI robots right into the wall. Espio grabbed Charmy's foot and dragged him along, right into another droid, but this one was different from ones before. It was much smaller than an Egg Hammer, but taller than an Egg Pawn. It was red and yellow in color scheme, and possessed a shield that it was already holding up.

It also almost looked human.

"Looks like this fool won't let us by until we prove our worth!" Vector stretched a little and nodded to Espio. "You get rid of the shield, and Charmy and I will take care of the rest."

"Roger," Espio replied, vanishing and causing a distortion afterward. He snuck up to the droid and kicked its arm, hoping to get it to release the shield with the surprise. However, instead, the robot picked up on Espio's presence and whacked him with the shield before he got too close.

Realizing camouflage was not the answer, Espio returned to sight and began to spin around in a torrent of leaves. They whipped around the robot, trying to pry the shield away from it, but the robot shrugged off the breeze and proceeded to fire at Espio. Espio quickly sidestepped out of the way and gained a flair of determination.

"All right. This might be tricky…"

Espio lunched at the robot, just as it took direct aim at him. He hoped for the best and continued for his target, luckily successfully latching onto the droid. Confused, the metal fighter whirled around, hoping to toss Espio off. Espio had an iron grip, however, and held on tight until he managed to use his foot to wedge the shield out of the bot's grasp.

"Go! Go!" he barked afterward.

Given the cue, Charmy twirled about in the air, holding Vector by the tail and releasing him in a ball of shock. The electrically-charged Vector flew like a projectile at the robot, hitting it right in the torso and electrocuting it. Espio released the robot at the last moment and kicked it into the door, causing it to slide down in a heap. Vector finished it off by jumping into the air and bringing down his fists.

With that, the way forward opened, and Team Chaotix shared several high fives.

. . .

"You know what, guys?" Amy asked, walking along the edge of the ship they were currently on. "I think we've really improved since we started!"

"I agree!" Cream complied, skipping alongside her. "I got to see a lot of neat things, and I'm not as afraid as I once was!"

"I'm just glad to have someone to talk to besides Froggy," added Big, just not realizing it.

"Well, when I found that picture of what I thought was Sonic in the paper with Froggy and a Chao, I knew that Froggy belonged to you, and that Cream would probably know about the Chao…never would've thought we'd be dragged into this mess!"

"Hmm…" Cream suddenly began to ponder, tilting her head down. Amy noticed her thinking and tapped her on the shoulder.

"Hey, what's on your mind?"

"The picture…the whole reason why we're here," Cream explained. "I asked Sonic if he had taken Froggy and Chocola back at the Power Plant, and he hadn't…and Eggman admitted to taking them last night…"

"Yeah?" Big asked, looking perplexed.

"It doesn't add up! If _Eggman_ took Froggy and Chocola, and there's a photo of _Sonic_ with them…"

"Maybe Eggman tried to frame Sonic?" Big asked, scratching his head. "That's all I can come up with."

"Impossible!" Amy cried, pulling out Sonic's picture. "Sonic's been gone just as long as Eggman…and unless Eggman's good with picture editing tools, there's no way he could've taken a photo of Sonic running, let alone with Froggy and Chocola in tow…"

"Ugh, this makes my head spin…" groaned Big.

"It doesn't help that Eggman has always been a robot every time we've encountered him, as we know now…" Cream trailed, tapping her head.

"Maybe the real Eggman did kidnap them, and his robot decoy admitted it?" suggested Amy, not sure what to think now.

"Either that, or the robot decoy was the one that did the kidnapping."

"Well, Cream," Amy grinned. "I knew you were a smart cookie, but at this rate you might be on the same level as Tails!"

Cream was taken aback by such a flattering compliment, but was interrupted by Big.

"It doesn't matter who took them or where they've gone…" the grown cat whimpered. "I just want Froggy back!"

. . .

"Shadow's Rocket Accel required to blast through."

"Heh heh heh…"

"Oh no."

Omega, Shadow, and Rouge careened out of the top of the swordfish-like battleship, just as it spontaneously started to explode. Large holes formed in the blue metal, looking as though Shadow running through caused the tower to commit suicide. But no, Shadow just rushed his team out of there- he had no idea why it chosen then to implode upon itself.

"I wonder where those pieces are going to land…" Rouge pondered, watching the large chunks of metal hurdle through the atmosphere.

"Either way, that's one blow against the doctor," Shadow said, grinning.

"Humor remains undetected."

Team Dark safely landed on grind rails after being blown into the air, looking for their next destination. Omega wanted to bring down each and every one of the ships (even when Rouge reminded him that the other three teams were on ships of their own) while Shadow was just focused on getting to the flagship. Rouge only wanted two things- for Eggman to be brought down, and to get her hands on the treasure.

Eventually, they came to a series of fans, so they formed Triangle Dive to safely make it across. Once they landed, Shadow dashed forward, with Omega taking aim at all the cannons scattered throughout the deck.

"That'll show him," grumbled Rouge, crushing a cannon herself.

They then ran into a metal propeller, Shadow using a whirlwind to bring it into the air, just like the flowers in Lost Jungle. The team encircled several ships, until Rouge pointed out another battleship firing all sorts of projectiles at them.

"Well, let's take care of another one, shall we?"

Shadow landed on the battleship, with the crew running towards the center, in hopes of blowing it up again. However, right before they could go through the doors, they ran into another duo of red and yellow droids, and this time they were glowing pink.

"They're going to fire!" Rouge cried, grabbing her friends and taking off into the air. The robots launched a large pink laser, similar to Omega's, but luckily it had missed them thanks to Rouge's quick thinking. Shadow let go once again, this time Rouge grabbing Omega before he fell. The hedgehog pulled out his Chaos Emerald and held it high, daring the robots to even think about firing again.

"As if you're the only ones with power pink lasers…" Shadow scoffed, the emerald's glow slowly becoming blinding. "Well, you haven't seen true power yet!"

The light finally ended when Shadow shouted "Chaos Control!", causing time around the robots to freeze. Rouge was already holding Omega in the air, so E-123 simply whirled around and fired a laser of his own, which completely decimated the clunkers.

"Whew…" Rouge huffed, lowering herself. "I wonder how much farther we have to go to reach the flagship…"

"I don't know," Shadow admitted, folding his arms and staring over the edge of the battleship. "But we will find it…even if it takes all day and night!"

. . .

All the ships of the Egg Fleet flew at different altitudes, but they were all much too high in the sky in Amy's opinion. It certainly wasn't helping that she was now flying past all these ships with nothing more than a small propeller. She was really hoping that they'd be reaching the flagship soon…

"Anyway," Amy began, cutting herself off from her own thoughts. "Why does Eggman have so many ships?"

"Maybe he had a lot off free time on his hands?" Cream suggested, hanging onto Amy's boots. Amy snickered.

"Ha, no kidding."

"All the ships look so fishy…" Big trailed, suddenly becoming sad. "I miss Froggy, and going fishing together…"

Finally, Amy found a place to land and lowered the metallic propeller slowly. Big landed, followed by Cream and then Amy. Amy turned to Big and patted his arm.

"We're almost there Big, we're almost to Froggy," she promised.

"The last time we were apart, it was for a few days as well…" he reminisced. "Then at last, Sonic helped me get him back from that crazy water creature…and I promised him that nothing like that would ever happen again, and I was wrong…"

As Cream gave Big a small hug, Amy glanced around at their surroundings. They were on a battleship shaped like a swordfish, and compared to some of the other crafts, it was pretty menacing.

However, that's not what Amy was worrying about. She was more worried about the red and yellow droid that was approaching them. She scowled and pulled out her equally red and yellow hammer.

"Another one, huh?"

Using the same one-two as last time, Cream kept it distracted and Amy did a blow from behind. With that, Big pushed open the doors it was guarding. Just beyond them was even more ships, but Amy knew that if they kept forging onward, they'd reach the flagship, the one that housed Eggman…and hopefully get everything sorted out once and for all.

. . .

Team Sonic had taken down a few airships themselves, but they weren't so gung-ho about it. Sonic lead the group over the grind rails, Knuckles used Triangle Dive to glide them over a series of fans, and Tails used Thunder Shoot to dispatch any out-of-reach cannons that had the nerve to fire at the heroes.

"Any sign of the flagship?" Sonic asked, a hand over his eyes as he scanned the area for a ship that stood out from all the rest. Tails glided behind him, looking as well.

"Not yet, Sonic, but we have to be getting close."

"Um, is it possible that it's that giant ship way over there?"

Sonic and Tails turned to where Knuckles was pointing, and sure enough, a huge blue and red flagship was crossing the sky, far behind the rest of the fleet. Sonic grinned and scratched his nose.

"Heh heh, looks like we've found our destination!"

"How are we supposed to get all the way over there?" Tails asked. "Neither Knuckles or I can fly that far…"

"And we all know Sonic definitely can't fly at all," simpered Knuckles.

Nevertheless, Sonic glanced around, seeing that they were on another battleship, and grinned to himself. "I think I've got an idea, but you guys are just going to have to hold on tight and trust me."

He reached his hands back, which Tails grabbed instantly. Sonic glanced over his shoulder and smirked at Knuckles, who eventually heaved a sigh and took hold of Sonic's wrist as well. With that, Sonic dashed away, inside the battleship where there was a conveyor belt going against them. Sonic took a deep breath and exceled, going faster than the conveyor belt and sliding under the row of lasers. The mere friction Sonic was causing was creation a lot of heat and tension, and just as Team Sonic reached the other side of the battleship, it exploded, and the resulting blast sent the team careening into the air and towards the flagship.

"Are you sure this is going to work?" Knuckles asked, arms folded and facing Sonic as they flew. Sonic had his eyes closed and arms spread like an airplane.

"No, but I'm feeling pretty good about. At the very least, the blast should send us far enough for Tails to fly us the rest of the way."

He turned to Tails for conformation, to which the fox simply shrugged and said it was possible.

"I just hope the others either get to the flagship too, or reach somewhere safe before we sink these ships…"

Sonic opened his eyes and frowned.

"I hope you're right, Tails…"


	21. Final Fortress

Because We're Sonic Heroes

Chapter 20: Final Fortress

Night managed to cross the heroes once again, the third morning being sapped away by their adventures through the Egg Fleet. But by either fate or a ton of luck, the four teams managed to reach Eggman's Final Fortress…

A massive mechanical marvel all by itself, it outsized every ship in the Egg Fleet, with a few heroes comparing it to a whale. Team Sonic had been the first to step foot upon it with Sonic grinning, Tails gasping in awe, and Knuckles simply gaping.

"Oh, the Egg Carrier has _nothing_ on this thing," Knuckles whistled, still taken aback at the immense size.

"Well, this has to be Eggman's headquarters; of course it'd be big, fancy, and over the top!" Sonic exclaimed.

"It's pretty much an airbase, Knuckles," Tails pointed out, scratching his ear. Knuckles just shook his head in bewilderment.

"How does it stay afloat? !"

"Well," Tails began, emitting a light cough. "I'm lead to believe that it has something to do with the air pressure and-"

"Erm…Nevermind, doesn't matter. Let's just take it down." The echidna folded his arms. "So, how do we plan to do that?"

Tails gestured to the main hull of the fortress, as if Knuckles was automatically supposed to know what that meant. When Knuckles didn't catch on as quickly as Tails had hoped, the fox began to explain. "I'd assume that this ship is being powered by…well, a power core, and I wouldn't be surprised if the energy being used came from Grand Metropolis…"

"So bust in there and bust the power core?" Sonic asked, absentmindedly tossing his blue Chaos Emerald up and down.

"That's the plan!"

"Sounds good to me!"

Sonic motioned for the other two to follow, with Knuckles letting out a crazy battle cry before taking off after the hedgehog. Tails chuckled and flew to catch up, until a flash of lighting caused a bright scar in the sky, with the thunder being the sky's pained scream and the rain that fell afterward the tears.

"…wait up! WAIT UP!"

Tails wasted no time in flying toward what could possibly be a suicide mission…better than taking his chances with the storm.

. . .

"Well…here we are," Amy breathed, her boots squeaking against the wet metal. The rain was much more menacing than it had been in the forest, and the lighting didn't_ just_ startle Tails…

Cream's ears straightened out perfectly when the blinding flash lit up the sky and the rumble of thunder pounded against her ear drums. "Ooh, this is…quite overwhelming. I really better pull myself together…"

"Are you afraid of storms, Cream?" Amy asked, glancing over her shoulder and looking concerned. To Amy's surprise, Cream shook her head.

"No, I actually love storms…" she glanced up at the sky worriedly, cringing when another lightning bolt struck. "It's just…this one seems very violent…"

"It's not so bad," Big promised, ushering Cream under his parasol. "I've endured storms much worse than this back in Mystic Ruins!"

Amy, meanwhile, took the lead and looked around. The deck didn't appear to have any definite way to go, let alone a sign that said "Eggman- this direction!"

"Ugh, where are we supposed to go from here? I know Eggman's on this ship and all, but it's so big…"

Cream peered out from under the umbrella, noticing more grind rails reaching about the fortress. On them she saw Team Dark grinding away, which she quickly pointed out to Amy.

"Hey, I bet Shadow and his friends know where Eggman is!" she exclaimed. "Maybe if we stay close to them…?"

Amy smiled and winked at Cream, already following the rail riders. "I see where you're going with this. Let's find Eggman and finish him once and for all!"

. . .

"Do we even know where Eggman is?"

"Unfortunately, no. I was just going on my killer instinct and Omega's rage."

"Eggman is only minutes away from termination!"

Large spotlights shot through the night, and proved to be the only illumination for the fortress. Shadow shook his quills dry of the pounding rain, only for them to be soaked once again. He was trying his hardest not to lose his traction on the grind rail, but the faster they went, the more dangerous it became.

"This weather could be an omen…" Shadow commented, staring up at the ravenous thunderclouds above. Rouge shook her head.

"You're thinking too much, Shadow…" she began, only to notice Omega quickly look away. "What? You too, Omega?"

"Sensing strong magnetic field…magnitude off the scale!"

"I'm going to admit to you guys, I'm feeling a bit uneasy…" Shadow confessed, his hard crimson-eyed gaze focused on the path ahead. "But there's no time to worry about that. Now is the time to attack!"

"Eggman's headquarters detected!" Omega yelled, readying his guns. "Destruction mode engaged!"

"I thought those battleships were big, but this is enormous…" Rouge whispered, taken completely aback at the sheer size of the ship.

"Enormous engineering feet, I must admit."

Shadow eventually reached the end of the rail, landing with a clank and surveying the surroundings. He turned to his team and tightly clenched his fist.

"We're almost at the moment of truth…at the center of this thing is Eggman, and not only will we get our revenge-"

"And treasure!" interrupted Rouge.

"-I'll finally get my answers…"

Consecutively nodding, Rouge and Omega tailed Shadow, the burning desire to locate Eggman being the only reason why he lumbered on.

. . .

Team Chaotix fought through the fortress as well, Vector clutching the communication device like it was a lifeline. The client hadn't contacted them yet, and not knowing what was going on at the other end was putting the crocodile on edge.

Charmy wasn't as concerned about the lack of instruction, instead turning his attention solely to the deck where lightning constantly felt the need to strike. For whatever reason, he found it quite humorous.

"Heh, guess they should call this place the 'Thunder Deck'! Hee hee…"

"Clever, Charmy," Espio replied, staring at the walkie talkie as hard as Vector was gripping Charmy folded his arms and heaved a heavy groan.

"I dunno why you guys are so stressed about this. Maybe our client expects that we're going to finish Eggman off at long last like the other teams, and doesn't _have_ to tell us what to do!"

"Maybe, but it's unlike him to not butt his nose in at unprecedented times," Vector defended. "He'll be calling us up any second no-"

"Excuse me? Who's butting their nose in?"

"This _crazy_ next-door neighbor we have- he's a _real_ nut job!" Vector responded immediately with a lie, Espio moaning in disbelief in the background. "A-anyway, what's the scoop?"

"Well, you guys have been doing a great job, and I'm almost proud to say that this will be your last mission," the client explained. Charmy looked utterly ecstatic.

"Hey! Looks like we got praised after all!"

"Easy Charmy, let's wait until we hear what we're doing," suggested Espio.

"See, I've been…captured, and am being held captive in one of the rooms on this flagship. Find the keys to this room and rescue me. There are a total of five keys."

"We finally get to meet you? !" "How are we supposed to find you? This ship is huge!" "Wait…have you been here the whole time?"

Charmy, Espio, and Vector stared at the communicator, and they could almost see the look of perplexity that crossed their client's face.

"Erm…technically speaking, yes, you will get to meet me and receive your pay. You can find me at the very back of the ship, behind the door with five locks- go figure. And…yes, I've been here the whole time."

"Why'd you tell us only now?" Vector asked. "I mean, if you'd told us you were captured earlier –along with that handsome pay- we could have freed you already!"

"I- I know. But, this needed to be handled delicately…and it would've been too early if I had informed you before."

"Too early…what-?"

"Listen, just get the keys, come and find me, and do it before the fortress is brought down! I'm counting on you!"

The line went dead, and though the team had more questions, they were all surprised.

"Someone's actually counting on us…" Espio realized, trailing with uncertainty.

"And we don't even know who it is," added Charmy.

"Either way, the only way to get to the bottom of this mystery is to get key hunting!" Vector put the walkie talkie away and pointed forward. "Let's go, boys! We're one mission away from a handsome pay!"

. . .

Sonic glided down the golden rail, already having made great progress across the massive flagship. In fact, everything was going smoothly until a hulking brute of a robot descended down upon them. The resulting 'thud' it made was enough to bounce the group into the air, sending them all to the ground.

"What the…is that an Egg Hammer?" Knuckles asked, only able to make out the mega-mallet the machine wielded. Sonic shook his head as he returned to a standing position.

"No, it's worse…that's a Heavy Egg Hammer. Much tougher."

"And Egg Hammers are pretty tough to begin with!" added Tails. Knuckles just snarled and readied his fists.

"I'm pretty tough to begin with as well!"

Sonic and Tails simply watched as Knuckles threw himself at the robot once again, leaving Sonic to wonder who _really_ was the one who acted without thinking. Just as Knuckles was within range, the Heavy Hammer's primary weapon came swinging forward and battering Knuckles back like he was a baseball. Sonic had to grab him and pull him out of the air before he ended up careening off the edge and into the night sky.

"Oof, well, they were properly named…" Knuckles wheezed. "Heavy hammer indeed."

"Haven't you learned from the drone incident?" Sonic asked, setting Knuckles back on his feet. "This thing's going to take twice the fire power."

"Hmm…I think you're right, Sonic."

"…you do? !"

"Yup." Knuckles grabbed Sonic's wrist, then walked over and grabbed Tails'. "Fire Dunk!"

"Pardon?" both Sonic and Tails asked, but their only answer was being violently thrown at the Heavy Hammer without much of a choice. They were inexplicably enveloped in fire, which increased the damage done to the Heavy Hammer when they slammed into the torso. The moment Sonic uncurled slightly, he flung himself to the Heavy Hammer's back and attempted to twist the head off.

"That wasn't quite what I meant…"

Knuckles only shrugged as it was his turn to be thrown- Tails hurled him and performed Thunder Shoot, electrocuting the Heavy Hammer as soon as Knuckles collided with the robot. This caused the killer machine to drop its weapon, with Knuckles struggling to pick it up. However, once he managed to heave it over his shoulder, he called for Sonic to get out of the way. Sonic complied with no complaints, flipping off of the robot as Knuckles smashed the hammer into its original owner. Sonic and Tails shielded themselves as metallic bits burst everywhere, but it was all right, for the Heavy Hammer was no more.

"Yikes," squeaked Tails, unsettled by the strength of the machine. "Just imagine other tune-ups that Eggman's robots may have gotten…"

"Well no matter what they are," declared Sonic. "They're not stopping us form reaching the core!"

. . .

Big was simply doing what the rest of his team was doing- staying as close to Team Dark as they could and hopefully finding their way to Eggman and their kidnapped friends. The purple cat in particular was eager to just get the whole thing over with- his promise to Froggy had been broken days ago, and now he just wanted to make things right. His whole life had been lived in Mystic Ruins with Froggy as his only companion, and it was just over five months ago that his life became so chaotic.

He turned to Amy and Cream- two girls far younger than him, plodding their way through a monstrously sized flying fortress, just to perform a rescue. Big decided that if anything good was to come out of this, it be that he'd finally be reunited with Froggy, and that he would have made some great friends along the way.

"Some sections will fall and explode!" Amy suddenly cried, catching Big's attention. "Hurry!"

Amy, being the speed type, ran with all her might to get her team through the danger zone. Cream had it lucky, for she could just fly over the hazard without too much worry. Big, on the other hand, wasn't as light footed as the rest of his team, and really had to push himself to get by safely.

"Oh, boy…"

It really wasn't helping that explosions were detonating on his heels, or that Amy was screaming about avoiding the cannon markers again. The last thing Big needed was to dodge ammo as well.

Eventually, Big managed to get to safe footing, with Amy panting from exhaustion and Cream huffed from the intensity of it all. Despite his brush with danger, Big hardly thought twice about it- it was just another step toward Froggy.

"What's next for us?" he asked, turning to Amy, who was trying to locate any member of Team Dark.

"Ooh…I'm not sure. I think we lost the trail…"

"Maybe if we just keep heading this way, we'll get to where we need to go," suggested Cream, gathering the group into flight formation. She carried them to an upper part of the area, where Amy found Shadow and Omega fighting off a Heavy Hammer. She smiled and frantically pointed downward.

"Hey, you were right, Cream! We don't even need to follow them anymore. I bet they'll be so busy dispatching every robot that we'll beat them to Eggman!"

"Well…as long as we can get there on our own, then okay!"

Big nodded in agreement, as he usually did, and allowed Amy to lead in the way she thought best. Both girls were very clever, Amy with her pep talks and Cream always seeming to know what to do… Big may not have been the brightest bulb in the bunch, but he was satisfied with helping in any way that he could.

"Hey Big!" Amy called, running back to where he had stopped, lost in his own thoughts. "Do you think you can get rid of that huge cannon for us, if it's all right."

Big hoisted his fishing pole over his shoulder and smiled at Amy. "No problem at all!"

. . .

Omega existed for one purpose- destroy all Eggman robots!

…well, that was his own self-inflicted purpose, at least.

His original purpose, designated by Eggman, was to guard Shadow in that sealed room, to make sure that no one would break in and discover the doctor's dark secret. Unfortunately for Eggman, he never anticipated that the last of his E-Series robots would betray him.

Omega hadn't been in that room for very long, and he really didn't know how long Shadow had been in there before Eggman had decided to beef up the security. Regardless, it was enough time for a highly developed fighter robot like Omega to realize his talent was being wasted in a room, guarding a creature in a test tube.

And now here he was, on a flying creation of the doctor's, destroying fellow robots of the doctor's, on his way to destroy the doctor himself.

"Must eradicate! All sensors locked on Eggman robots!"

"Omega," Rouge began, once again allowing Omega and Shadow to prove their dominance by crushing metal. "I understand that you feel that the way to get back at the doctor is by destroying the rest of his robots…but wouldn't that mean you'd have to destroy y-"

Omega refused to let her finish as he stomped in front of her to take the blow from the first of two Heavy Hammers. The bat gasped and widened her eyes, fretting for her robotic friend, but being a robot, Omega felt nothing. The blow didn't even leave a dent, which Rouge was relieved to see. However, she wasn't so relieved when Omega grabbed her and used her against the Heavy Hammer. As Rouge once again ranted on about 'giving her a warning', a thought worked its way through Omega's processors.

"Hmm…"

There was Eggman's original intention for him. There was the quest that Omega had placed upon himself. And then…there was the purpose circumstances had given him.

Somewhere along the way during the crazy, mixed up adventure, he had found Shadow and Rouge by his side, having his back while he had theirs. It started rocky, with Shadow holding a grudge against the robot for attacking without consideration and Rouge having divided attention of Eggman's treasure and Shadow's lost memories, but they were now a pretty stable team. It never really occurred to him _why_ he assisted the duo, or _why_ he obeyed when they told him when he was getting too destructive, or even _why_ he somehow managed to know what to say to cheer up Rouge, but he could conclude one thing…

They were much better company than Eggman.

"Omega- this one is getting ready to fall!" Shadow exclaimed, running around in mad black circles to keep the Heavy Hammer's attention on him. "Strike at the right opportunity!"

"Understood," Omega replied, lifting his arm and taking aim. He waiting until the robot's face was completely facing him before firing. The shot hit its mark perfectly, damaging the wiring and whatnot within. The Heavy Hammer ceased to function, dropping its hammer and simply collapsing to the ground. Shadow huffed a little, but visibly looked unexhausted. He turned to Omega, smirked in his own dangerous way, and gave him the quickest thumbs up ever witnessed.

"Not bad."

"I must be quick and precise to be of use," was his near-emotionless reply. Shadow just shrugged and pointed his team in the next direction, which Omega was quick to agree with. It just meant that they would continue on with their mission. The only thing that they were allowed to deviate for was to attack other robots looming about.

And Omega wouldn't have it any other way.

. . .

The Chaotix had already found the first key, and Charmy was undeniably determined to find the next. After Vector had made quite a show in locating it, Charmy wanted to top him.

After all, Vector and Espio always had to go out of their way to prove they were in charge, and Charmy knew it as well. As awesome as he thought they were, and rarely admitted, he wanted to be just like them.

As Charmy was buzzing in his own thoughts about being as strong as Vector or as stealthy and skilled as Espio, he flew right into the chameleon, who had stopped and surveyed the area.

"Hmm…I sense Eggman's robots again."

"Bad guys!" Charmy cheered, spinning his helmet back around and flying toward the fray. "I'll take care of 'em-"

"Better leave this to me," interrupted Vector, sprinting by the other two and swinging his arms in all directions. Charmy went flying away in the aftermath, up righting himself and frowning.

"Hey, but I-"

He couldn't even finish his sentence, for Vector had already torn apart the robots. Espio whistled, impressed with the speed.

"Nice time, Vector."

"I guess all these missions have been good for the biceps," chuckled the crocodile, making muscles and striking pose. Espio walking by and plainly ignored him while Charmy whimpered and floated alongside them.

Eventually Espio had taken the lead and rushed down several ramps, ricocheted from wall to wall, and stylishly destroyed a few more of Eggman's clunkers. Charmy outwardly complained at missing another chance to shine and simply resorted to looking for the second key himself.

"Hey! There it is over there!" he claimed, his eyes catching a glint inside of a small cage. He hovered over and tried to pry off the bars, but they wouldn't budge for nothing. "Huh. There's gotta be some way to open it…"

Charmy turned around to locate a switch or something of the sort, only to find himself faced with a Heavy Hammer ten times his tiny bee size.

"Well hi!"

Espio and Vector, meanwhile, were searching behind every pipe, box, and hatch in search of more keys, but were quickly torn from their search by the sudden lack of a bee buzzing in their ear.

"Oh, great. Where'd the little pipsqueak run off to this time…?" Vector grunted, throwing a box to the ground and huffing off. "I swear, he'd better not be getting into any trouble-"

"A little late for that, Vector," Espio cough, pointing off to the side. Vector's gazed turned to where Espio was pointed, only to witness Charmy at the mercy of a Heavy Hammer. Letting out an uncharacteristically high pitched yelp, Vector scampered over there with Espio into tow.

"Hang on, Charmy, we'll save ya!" Vector blared. Charmy was sitting on the ground and leaning against the key cage.

"Save me? But I-"

"YAARGH!"

Vector roared and threw himself onto the Heavy Hammer, his fists of fury doing next to nothing to the reinforced metal. Espio was wise to stay clear until an opportunity presented itself, and Charmy was still sitting on the ground looking confused.

Soon enough, the Heavy Hammer whirled around and tossed Vector right off, followed by extending its hammer. From there, it spun around rapidly, striking Vector somewhere in the process and continuing until it was dizzy. The hammer's weight and momentum forced the Heavy Hammer onto one leg, which Espio used as a chance to attack. Before he could get close enough, Charmy dashed in from nowhere, striking the last leg it had to stand on and sending it to the ground. Then Espio rushed in and attacked it, while Charmy saw that the cage had shattered when the Heavy Hammer hit the ground, and retrieved the key inside.

"I knew I could do it! I bet the last three will be even easier!"

Charmy happily glided away, with Espio balking and Vector griping in pain on the ground.

. . .

Team Sonic was stuck in an area that was shielded from all light, with the exception of the flashing lights that lined the path. Sonic was mostly taking care of business, being on point and depicting the team's next move, with consultation from Tails.

Which was perfectly fine with Knuckles- he was just looking forward to destroying the power core, taking down the armada, defeating Eggman, and getting back to Angel Island.

He had a very limited idea about what needed to be done, so it was easier to allow Tails to spew his long explanations without asking questions and to let Sonic be as reckless as he wanted- it was who they were, after all.

Going against the grain wouldn't get them anywhere, as he had to learn the hard way.

"Argh, they're blocking the way!" Sonic suddenly cried, running toward the next door. However, like before, a red and yellow drone was standing guard, shield held high and guns blazing. Knuckles stepped forward and jerked a fist in the robot's direction.

"I'll take care of it- and I won't 'mindlessly' throw myself at it this time," he explained, shooting a glance at Tails. Tails grinned sheepishly and allowed the echidna to carry on.

As Knuckles danced around the android, waiting for a moment to strike, he thought about why he was even here to begin with. Tails had shown up in his biplane, surprisingly without Sonic, and explained about the letter he had received. Knuckles didn't _have_ to go- Tails even said he just thought it'd be best if Knuckles knew about it.

If anyone else had asked him, Knuckles would've responded with a flat "No." He served to protect the Master Emerald, and only left the island to continue to guarantee its safely. Technically, he reasoned to himself, he left just to be sure Eggman wouldn't bother stealing the mystic gem again, but it seemed the doctor was beyond that.

"And take that!" Knuckles shouted, his fist thrusting into the back of the droid. He'd managed to roll around behind it and strike from there. Sonic cheered him on as Tails called out that a second well-placed blow would probably finish it off. Knuckles nodded, backed away, and awaited another chance to attack.

So if the doctor hadn't wanted the Master Emerald, why did Knuckles stay with the group anyway? Was it because he secretly wanted to get away from the endless cycle of life on the island, even just for a few days? Perhaps it was because it was simply the right thing to do, and Knuckles extended his protection of the Master Emerald to the world itself?

"Yes! Good job, Knux!" Sonic exclaimed, pumping his fists into the air as the droid that stood in their way was dismantled. Tails proceeded to open the next door as Knuckles smiled to himself, proud of his small feat. He turned and took the lead for once, just in case more robots decided that they were feeling bold.

"Let's just keep an eye out for anymore clunkers," Knuckles said. "It's already the final night, so we've got to take care of this _now_."

"We know, we know," scoffed Sonic, hands held behind his head. "Don't take all the fun out of it! Think of it as a last minute, daring mission, where _we_ are the world's last hope at peace…and the solution to our problem resides in the very center of this fortress!"

"…Sonic, that's our situation exactly."

"…well, still, don't make the circumstances sound worse than they already are!"

Sonic dashed away then, the aftermath wind causing Knuckles' dreads to fly forward and smack him in the face. The echidna grumbled a little, but simply brushed them out of his face and trotted after the hyperactive hedgehog.

"Hmm…"

Fighting to get deeper into a dangerous, hazardous fortress certainly wasn't Knuckles' idea of how to spend a day. But now that he thought about it, and as he watched Sonic and Tails _enjoy_ adventuring into the death trap, he decided on the true reason he'd left the island and agreed to do this.

He'd only been away from Angel Island only a few times in his entire life, which roughly added up to two and a half weeks total, give or take. Knuckles still didn't understand how most things worked in the world below his island, but that was okay- he knew enough not look like a _complete_ fool if he ever went out in public. So long as he was with Sonic and Tails, maybe it wouldn't be so unbearable.

Knuckles enjoyed their company. Not all the time, of course, but every once in a while was just right for him.

. . .

"Those guys look pretty tough up ahead," Rouge said under her breath, she and her team approaching three red and yellow drones.

"Better be careful."

"I'm so tired of these creeps," grumbled Shadow, deciding on how to dispatch them. "Who do they think they are?"

"The E-2000!" Omega suddenly yelled, causing Rouge and Shadow to give them looks that asked for more info. "They are the robots Eggman designed after he gave up on the original E-Series, being yours truly. So they're in production now…I'll destroy them all!"

"So that's what those things are called," Rouge realized, jumping away from the E-2000 drone's attack.

"You just _now_ recall the name after _how many _we've battled already?" Shadow deadpanned.

The three of them used all their abilities to execute a quick dispatch, with Omega continuing on about the new series of robots that had replaced him. Rouge eventually grew bored with hearing him drone about his rage, so she turned to Shadow, who also looked quite uninterested with Omega's ranting.

"Shadow…can I ask you something?"

"If it was that question, then yes."

"You know what I mean."

"The answer's still yes…though I might downgrade it to an 'I suppose'."

Rouge made a brief face, but it quickly went away as she returned to her original thoughts. "Shadow…do you think I'm…selfish?"

"Hm. You're a thief that does what she can to get what she wants, which is usually treasure, jewels, or both. You have a tendency to show greed and can be very abrasive, but _selfish_? Hm."

Rouge glared back, to which Shadow shrugged.

"Just being straight up. Why do you ask?"

"I dunno, last time I was out and about like this, I did some things that I'm not completely proud of, and whether I was working for the good side or the bad side at the time, it was always to follow my own desires," she sighed sadly. "It's just…even though I'm still looking for Eggman's treasure, I was hoping that this time around I could redeem myself, if only slightly…"

"Well…" Shadow wore a perplexed expression. "If you _are_ selfish, you're not _completely_ like that. You cared for a city that you didn't want torn down, even though it was under the enemy's control. You helped me out whenever you could and, well, it's not like you're pure evil because you go out of everyone's way to get something you want."

"R-Really?"

Shadow shrugged once more, which was beginning to bug the albino bat. "I suppose. If you surrounded yourself with a few more friends, you never know. You might become a nicer person, and if it really bothers you, your selfishness might diminish."

Rouge smirked and folded her arms. "Well that's awfully reassuring. You sure you're not just saying this to make a beauty like me feel better?"

"It's the best I've got- I can always take it back…"

"No, no, it'll do!" Rouge glanced around and frowned at their circumstances. "If we ever reach our destination and get our answers, I'll be sure to put it in action."

"Eggman located due north. Continue to proceed in said direction."

Omega led the way, Shadow determined as always, and Rouge now looking very insightful.

. . .

"All right, this place looks extra dangerous," Amy declared, halting her team before they skipped right into a bottomless pit. "Cream should fly us over, then Big can take care of those Badnik Brutes up ahead."

"Sure thing, Amy!" Cream and Big responded, both of them preparing to carry out their requests.

"Our reunion with Froggy and Chocola can't be far now!"

"I sure hope so," agreed Big, grabbing onto Amy as they began to fly across the lethal drop.

Cream smiled as she carried the group in flight formation. There was once a time where she was a bit upset at Amy, for harboring such a crazy obsession for Sonic and the fact that this caused her to disregard Big and Cream herself. At first she almost blindly marched through danger just to find Sonic, and completely lost regard for Froggy and Chocola. Cream never said a word, since Amy's temper always had to be in check. She almost slipped up in Casino Park, but it ended up all right.

At least now Amy had realized her somewhat selfish mistakes, and was trying to make amends for them in her own little way. She hardly brought up Sonic as of late, and was more considerate towards Big's sensitivity about losing Froggy.

"Chao Chao?" Cheese spoke up, poking at Cream just as the rabbit sent her team down on the other side of the hazard. Cream alighted on the ground herself, patting her small friend afterward.

"We're really close, Cheese!" Cream assured. "We've just got to be a bit more patient and persistent!"

"That's right," added Amy, now taking the lead. "I still can't believe Eggman built this thing…it's huge! It's like this fortress is the size of a city!"

"Maybe he doesn't like his neighbors much?" Cream asked fervently, tossing out a suggestion.

"I…don't even think he has neighbors."

"You never know!"

Amy dismissed the thought as Big battered a way forward, ending up with the team descending into an inner area of the fortress.

"This is lucky," Cream decided, following Big through the path.

"Maybe Froggy's hidden down here!" exclaimed Big, suddenly moving faster. "Froggy? Froggy!"

"At least he's being optimistic," Amy sighed, placing her hands on her hips. Cream smiled with her- maybe things we're finally looking up for them.

. . .

With two keys under their belt, it was a matter of time before the Chaotix had all five. Vector in particular was keen on finding the next one, even though he had found the first. Charmy was proud that he'd –almost- taken down a Heavy Hammer single handedly, and that he retrieved a second key as well.

"Looks like I'm not such dead weight after all!"

"We already praised you, Charmy, now keep it up and keep an eye out," Espio ordered.

"Then we can free our client, beat up Eggman for imprisoning him on this ship, and get our handsome reward! In the words of Sonic, it'll be a piece of cake!"

Espio just nodded and attempted to keep his focus- he'd be able to sense a key anywhere…

Meanwhile, Vector was just concerned with what Charmy was saying.

It almost wasn't fair, the way Sonic did good things and never asked for anything in return. Vector wished he could be like Sonic in that aspect, but unlike Sonic, Vector had bills to pay.

"It's funny," he said aloud, directed at Espio but he wouldn't mind if he didn't receive an answer. "I always wanted to be a hero when I was younger, and the closest I could get was by becoming a detective."

"It is funny," agreed Espio. "I always thought you wanted to be in a band."

"Well I _did_, but we all know how well that went…'sides, what's wrong with our Chaotix Recitals?"

"What's wrong with that? We're the main cause of deafness when we play."

"…_Anyway_, I became a detective since I wanted to help people, but that plan sort of went awry, you know?"

Espio gave a firm nod before darting to the left, spinning into a robot, and kicking it off the edge. Vector looked somewhat disturbed as Espio returned to his side. Vector sighed and hung his head.

"Do you think I reached my goal, Espio? Or am I just trying to be something I'm not?"

Espio thought about for a moment, kicking open a door where the third key was simply resting on the ground. Charmy cheered, buzzed over, and grabbed it, beginning to fly around and cheer.

"Well, think about it, Vector. You're risking everything you've got to save a guy who could possibly be a complete stranger. When we save him, you'll be our client's hero. Not to the extent of Sonic, or even the original Shadow that gave his life for the whole world…but you are a good guy in your own right."

"Hmm. Never thought about it that way before," Vector realized.

"_I_ think you're a hero, Vector!" Charmy exclaimed, flying over and dropping the recently acquired key in his grasp. Vector blinked and started up at Charmy, who was fidgeting with his vest. "To tell the truth…I wanna be just like you!"

"Like…me?" Vector repeated, Charmy nodded to confirm it. "I've never really done much though…you want to be like me, when there's nothing special about me at all?"

"Except the fact you can breathe fire," muttered Espio, but no one managed to pick that up.

"Of course! Sure, you might not have done crazy or outrageous things, but…you can be cool when you want to be, and Espio too."

Espio perked up a bit at this as Vector laughed lightly and patted Charmy on the back. "I always knew you were a good kid, Charm!"

"Let's use all this heroism we apparently have and find the fourth key," Espio interrupted, not trying to ruin the moment, but to guide the group back on track. Vector allowed Charmy to sit on his shoulder as the key quest continued.

They unknowingly ended up stepping on a bomb of sorts, which they only noticed once Espio heard the faint ticking. They used their last few seconds to dart out of the way, just before the explosive imploded on itself. The resulting blast caused the Chaotix to rocket into the air.

"…didn't think it would self-destruct. We barely made it," Espio concluded.

"Yeah, that's what they get!" Charmy exclaimed, simply lost in the spur of the moment. The three of them landed conveniently on some nearby grind rails, with Vector more than ready to get away from the detonation area.

"What an explosion! If we were any slower, we woulda been toast for sure!"

"I just hope the teams are a little less careless than we were…" Espio admitted, glancing ahead at whatever awaited them.

. . .

"Sonic!" Knuckles yelled, having been blasted away by a detonator as well. Sonic just grinned and shrugged as best he could while airborne. "Of all the reckless…"

"I never thought it'd actually self-destruct…" the hedgehog managed to squeak out in his defense.

"Are you kidding me? It's blown to pieces! It's a miracle that we _weren't_!"

"I wonder why it self-destructed though…" Tails pondered to no one in particular. Without any means to investigate further, Tails gathered the group into flight formation and placed them onto grind rails. Sonic instantly flipped to the middle one while Tails flew to the one on the left.

The group performed an impressive loop on the grind rails, Sonic smirking the moment they pulled it off. However, their success didn't last for long, because a shockwave zipped down the middle rail, with Sonic jumping up almost too late. The soles of his shoes ended up being singed a bit, which really upset him.

"Aw man! What gives?" Sonic huffed, looking forward to finding the origin of the laser.

"Red laser fired!" Tails cried.

"What does that even mean? !"

Tails and Knuckles both yelped and jumped as two shockwaves shot down their rails, where Tails theorized that it could be lighting that struck the rails. But once it seemed that a blue beam of light shot out of a cannon below them, Tails concluded that they were being bombarded by both.

"Okay, what was that? !" Knuckles yelped, his voice going up an octave. "What was that bright light? Giant laser beams? !"

"I'm afraid so!" Tails called back, now flying off the rail to make it easier to avoid both threats. "Cannons are firing at us, and these rails are like lighting magnets!"

"They can't be specifically targeting us, can they? !" Sonic questioned, jumping from rail to rail to avoid all hazards flying at him.

"I'm sure anyone on the rails would be in danger…"

Team Sonic frantically dodged for their lives, Tails eventually having enough of it all and returning the group into flight formation. Sonic was more than welcome to this idea, while Knuckles was yelling at Tails to go higher- primary colors of lasers were aimed to shoot his legs off.

"Okay, I believe we're out of range, here…" Tails huffed, setting the group in an area beyond the rails. Sonic looked completely frazzled.

"I hope that is the only time in my life that I will ever despise a grind rail."

"Whoa, Sonic despising a grind rail?" Knuckles gasped, lying on the ground. "If that's possible, then I'm not the last echidna!"

"Oh, hush," Sonic returned to his feet and scanned the surroundings, only to blanch when he saw what was up ahead. Tails was fearing that he had chosen a bad spot to seek safety at.

"Um, Sonic?"

"Stay sharp." Sonic cut him off with a quick and sharp whisper, stuck in a battle stance and slowly inching his way forward. Tails and Knuckles made his way behind him, only to see what he was so tense about.

Two Heavy Hammers blocking their way forward, along with lesser Egg Pawns for back up.

"We'll be all right, as long as we focus on the Heavy Hammers one at a time," Sonic explained. "That means one of them needs to be stunned with Thunder Shoot at all times."

"Got it!" Tails replied, nodding in agreement.

When they got close enough, Sonic broke out of his defensive pose and ran straight at the Egg Pawns.

"They're robots everywhere! Time to party!"

"It looks like their attack is mounting!" Tails deducted, grabbing Knuckles and performing Thunder Shoot. "Keep your guard up!"

"I'll destroy everything that comes my way!" Knuckles yelled as he collided with the Heavy Hammer on the right. Sonic made a mocking face as he sent an Egg Pawn over the edge.

"Well in that case, I'm not coming in Knuckles' way anytime soon!"

Knuckles emitted a low growl in reply as he proceeded to attack the other Egg Hammer. Tails, meanwhile, whipped out his tails and threw himself into the robotic fray.

"Bring it on!" he shouted, knocking out a clunker with one blow. Sonic, in the middle of tearing an Egg Pawn to pieces, managed a genuine smile.

"That's my bro."

. . .

There was once a time where Espio believed that Vector wasn't suited to be leader of the Chaotix.

When he took over the business, Espio highly disapproved of his laid-back attitude, rambunctious nature, and his taste in music. There were times when Espio felt that _he_ would be much better suited for the position.

The thought crossed Espio's mind as he silently made his way down the rails, listening to Vector and Charmy return to bickering when lighting shot up the rails and lasers aimed to blow them to smithereens.

"Yellow! I said yellow laser!"

"What difference does the color make? It's a laser for crying out loud!"

"Red! Red Laser!"

"Wow! That's what I call a laser!"

"It's-a firing a blue laser!"

Espio just murmured to himself and continued to solid ground. Despite the fact that Vector's methods were usually very…unorthodox, he meant well, and his ideas usually worked out in the end.

He landed on the next platform, knocked out a robot, and retrieved the fourth key that he was carrying…along with one that was different from the other keys.

"That's peculiar…" Espio noticed, holding up the golden key. It was smaller than the other keys, colored differently, and didn't have Eggman's over eccentric face on it. It was just a plain old normal key. "Better hang onto this for safe keeping…"

As he pocketed the find away, Vector and Charmy caught up with him, looking much more upbeat now that they didn't have to quarrel about oncoming lasers intent on killing them. Espio updated them on the situation.

"I've located the fourth key, meaning there's only one left to find," he explained. "I also found a key that's different from the others, but it could be important."

"Good work, Espio," Vector said honestly, giving the ninja thumbs up. "I would've been here sooner, but our 'legacy' here wanted to be difficult."

"I just don't get why you felt the need to point out the color of the lasers! Saying 'Look out! Laser!' would've worked ya know!"

"It's behind us now," Espio interrupted. "We still need to find the location of the door after we get the keys, so we have no time to lose."

"My thoughts exactly- let's go!" Vector put his words into action and jogged off, Espio sprinting and Charmy flying eagerly along.

Luckily, the group didn't have to go too far, for Charmy spotted the key locked up like some of the ones before. Also like before, it was being guarded by a pack of robots.

"You know what to do, boys," Vector stated as they got closer. "Espio, would you care to lead off?"

Espio was taken a bit aback by this, but acquiesced anyway. "Yes, no problem."

Espio prepared a few shuriken in his hand and darted forward, Vector and Charmy keeping close. Once Espio momentarily stunned the robots with his weapons, Vector and Charmy went to work. Vector instantly heaved a wave of fire, with Charmy being tossed at them and doing damage like a bowling ball. There were only three, and Vector and Charmy combined destroyed two, so Espio flung himself in, went invisible, struck without being seen, and freed the final key to their client's cell.

"And there we go," Espio sighed to himself, claiming the key. "Our final mission, on the brink of being completed."

Meanwhile, Vector caught a glint in the corner of his eyes and turned to investigate, only to discover another cage. This time, however, it was barricaded shut with a silver lock, and housed the red (and final) Chaos Emerald.

"Well, well! Looks like Eggman keeps his trump cards hidden in plain sight," Vector chuckled. "I bet this is what Espio's key unlocks…"

"And I've got it right here!" cheered Charmy, tossing it to Vector. Vector, surprised, caught it flawlessly and raised an eyebrow at Charmy.

"How'd you manage to get it off his person without him turning around and pinning you to a wall?"

"I get into his stuff all the time- that wasn't much different!"

…concerned, but not going to worry about it for the moment, Vector inserted the key into the lock and freed the Chaos Emerald from its prison.

"Wow, it's just as pretty as the other one we have!"

"And we've got two now!" cheered Charmy. "That's more than I thought I'd ever see in my entire life!"

"That's saying something, considering you're six."

"Hey! Who stole my key?" Espio suddenly questioned, turning around to face the group. He noticed that Vector was clutching both the key and the Chaos emerald, while Charmy was trying to cover up an undeniably guilty look. The chameleon's gaze lowered along with his voice, but he didn't sound the least bit irritated.

"So, you guys found another Chaos Emerald. Nice."

"Yeah, well…" Vector trailed off, tossing the emerald at Espio. He caught it with both hands, and then stared curiously at Vector. "You found the key, and since Charmy has the other Emerald, I'd figure that you should hang onto this one."

"But…you're the leader. Wouldn't you feel better if you hung onto it?"

"Maybe." The ends of Vector's lips went upward. "But, I suppose you deserve a little reward for all the hard work you've done. I really appreciate all you do for the team, Espio."

Espio was frozen with utter shock, but Charmy answered for him. "Hey! Hey! Do ya 'preciate me, Vector? Huh? Huh-"

"I went over that with you already," Vector protested, pushing the bee away. "…but for Espio, it's been way long overdue."

He winked at Espio, the ninja returning it with a small nod. Espio hid the emerald away, then consulted that it was probably best that they go find their client at long last. With no arguments, Team Chaotix searched the rest of the Final Fortress, their story almost coming to an end…

. . .

"He underestimated us, thinking that we couldn't get this far…"

"We've still had a few close shaves, though," Rouge pointed out to Shadow, who was currently looking indifferent.

"Searching for next target!" announced Omega, searching the area for an E-2000 drone or anything of the sort. Shadow just leapt off the grind rail and burst forward, forcing his team into speed formation.

"I don't understand…the doctor's the only one who knows the truth about me…so why won't he just up and tell me?"

"Because he gets a kick out of messing with people," huffed Rouge, shaking her head. "And apparently has a knack for building huge fleets of ships...I suppose if you're going to take over the world, you need something that big."

"It's not enough to stop me!" Omega blared, waving his arms crazily. "I'll destroy it with my bare hands!"

Shadow was about to say something more, but dismissed the thought and began to ride the final set of grind rails. Somewhere along the way, Omega began to go haywire.

"Whoa, you okay Big Guy?" Rouge asked, becoming concerned when his head started whirling around.

"Electromagnetic pulses increasing ten-fold…brace for impact!"

"Impact? From wha-"

Rouge let out a scream before grabbing Shadow and Omega and lifted them off the rails. Shadow's eyes widened as a red laser rocketed over the rail, later followed by a yellow one.

"Blue laser fired!" the hedgehog exclaimed, Rouge moving them out of range once again.

"Incoming yellow laser!" broadcasted Omega, the three of them heading to the left.

"Hoo…this is ridiculous!"

"I know," agreed Shadow. "Four lasers gone to waste!"

"Not what I meant…but there's a total of twelve cannons. Better stay frosty."

"Proceed with caution."

Rouge gulped and set the group back on the rail, hoping to cover a lot of ground before another laser fired. However, this was not the case, and Rouge was forced to maneuver between magenta, cyan, and yellow tinted lasers, and avoiding the jolts of shock they produced.

"There's gotta be some way to shut them off…" Shadow pondered.

"Let's worry about that when we're not about to fly straight into a laser!" Rouge cried.

Shadow had no idea what she was talking about until he looked straight forward. An Eggman-shaped dome was sitting right in their path, with one of the eyes open and charging up a red beam.

Their grind rails led right into it.

Taking a quick scan around, Shadow noted a platform down below, along with the fact that the rails took a bit of a dip before they reached the dome. A plan instantly came to life in his mind.

"I'll take it from here!" he ordered, hardly giving Rouge a chance to get stable.

"Shadow, what're you doing?" Rouge cried. "You're going to drive us right into the laser."

"Rouge, please," Shadow grunted, leaning forward and slowly gaining speed. "Just trust me."

Rouge trembled slightly as Omega calculated their odds of survival being only at forty-nine percent. The bat grimaced as Shadow willed himself to getting to the dip in the rails before the laser fired. He always thought rails were simply a nuisance, but this time around, they were about to be a blessing.

Just as they began to descend, the laser fired, Omega shouting incoherent things and Rouge simply screaming. However, with Shadow's proper timing of events, the three of them had enough time to slip under the laser, though Omega was pretty confident that he had a scorch mark on the top of his head.

When they were directly above the platform, Shadow careened off the rail, Omega following on the spot. Rouge eventually swooped down and flew the duo at a safe rate down to the platform.

"Okay Shadow, what's you next genius move of action?"

Shadow smirked and pointed to another detonation device up ahead, located almost directly underneath the Eggman dome. He quickly dashed over to it and jumped on the button. Rouge looked utterly bewildered, but when Omega joined Shadow, she knew there was no turning back now. Once she contributed to pushing the button, the fortress began to quake, with the detonator going off an d sending them into the air, along with destroying the Eggman dome as planned.

"Now to find Eggman…" Shadow sneered under his breath. "This fortress is nothing for the ultimate life form!"

. . .

Amy Rose powered through the long corridors of the fortress that connected the areas together. She wasn't particularly sure how far away they were from Eggman, but it couldn't have been that much farther.

"This weather reminds me of our last attack on the Egg Carrier!" Amy exclaimed, watching the latest flash of lightning light up the deck momentarily. Cream blinked in surprise.

"You mean you've actually been in battle?" she balked. "I thought you were just there…not actually fighting!"

"Yeah! I'm pretty sure Big was too!"

"What? You too, Mr. Big?"

Big nodded. "It was all for Froggy!"

"Ooh…now I feel so new at this!"

"Well, you definitely haven't had as much exposure to Eggman as Big and I have," Amy began. "But you've proved yourself all the same! When the time comes to confront him, I'm sure you'll be great!"

"You mean it?"

"Of course! You're my best friend- I should know that better than anybody!"

Cream eventually stopped in her tracks, glancing up at Amy. When Amy realized she had ceased to walk, she spun around to ask why, but the little rabbit stunned her by suddenly giving Amy a hug. Amy wasn't entirely sure of why Cream precipitously gave her a hug, but she knew that there was only one thing to do afterward.

And that was to return it.

"D'aw! I wanna join in too!" Big cried, jogging up and wrapping his arms around the duo. Amy just chuckled until both Big and Cream let go.

"It's good to see we're all happy," she giggled. "But we've got a rescue mission to finish!"

"Then let's go!" cheered Big, hoisting Amy and Cream onto his shoulders. "To Froggy!"

"To Chocola!"

"To victory," Amy finished, raising her hammer and pointing it forward. "Everyone…follow me."

They all went ahead, knowing that they were in for quite a doozy of a fight…

…but truly, they had no idea.

. . .

"Eggman sure knows how to give heroes a welcome," snickered Sonic, referring to the barrage of lasers they narrowly escaped from.

"There's still more cannons where those came from…" Tails trailed worriedly.

"He can have as many cannons as he wants- it won't be enough to stop us!" declared Knuckles, raising a fist to the sky.

"That's the spirit!" Sonic cheered, not caring all that much about the lasers. After all, they had dodged them before- what was a few more?

He lead the team to the next round of grind rails, where more red, yellow, and blue lasers tried to knock them off their high perch. Sonic was able to jump from rail to rail swiftly, while Tails and Knuckles were scrambling about in desperate attempts to dodge.

"Sonic!" Tails yelled, the latest laser just barely missing him.

"Just hang in there!" Sonic ordered. "We're almost out of range!"

"It's getting a little dangerous, don't you think?" Knuckles asked, slipping a bit of his grind rail.

"We've been in danger since we started, and there's no looking back now!"

Tails was shaking, and the claps of thunder in the background weren't very soothing. Regardless, the three of them made it safely to a platform, where Tails and Knuckles were in dire need of a breather. Sonic landed next to them, making sure they were okay.

"That wasn't so bad…right?" he asked, attempting a smile. Knuckles practically glared as Tails plucked off a few bits of charred fur.

"I guess it could've been worse," Knuckles finally admitted, starting to walk off. "How far are we from the power core, anyway?"

"I have no idea," panted Tails, still viably shaken. "But the least we can do is find Eggman. Besides, if we destroyed the power core, everyone on this ship would be doomed to crash…you know, if the fortress didn't blow up first."

"You think we would've realized that at the start."

"Still," Sonic began, scratching his head. "How are we going to stop the fleet without blowing everybody up?"

"Let's figure that out once we beat the tar outta Eggman," Knuckles suggested. He and Tails began to walk toward the very back of the fortress, where oddly enough, there was practically nothing there. Compared to the red and silver mechanisms the rest of the fortress had, it was pretty peculiar.

"Well, we can't question Eggman's designs," shrugged Sonic, following Knuckles and Tails. However, he was picking up this strange buzzing sound, and he turned to Tails, who would usually be pressing his ears against his head if anything of high frequency was around. But it was like he was immune to the sound, along with Knuckles, yet it was bugging Sonic like crazy.

"Ugh! Where is that coming from? !" he exasperated, looking in all directions for the source of the annoyance. Once he turned full circle, he noticed an Eggman dome behind them, one powerful red laser charging within its opened right eye. Apparently there was more than one of them on the fortress, but this particular one seemingly had no way of being destroyed.

The laser fired, Sonic naturally ducking in retaliation. However, the laser was too high to strike him, plus it was aimed for the clear area up ahead.

And Tails and Knuckles, who were headed in that very direction.

"Wait, what? !" Sonic yelped, quickly turning heel and blasting at his top speed within the same moment. A light boom emitted from him afterward, but even then, Sonic didn't know if he could make it in time. "Tails! Knuckles! LOOK OUT!"

Tails and Knuckles stopped and turned around, which was a huge mistake. They saw the red laser blasting right after them, along with Sonic surrounded by a blazing blue blur of pure speed. The duo quickly yelped and back pedaled, miraculously outrunning the laser for a few moments, but eventually they ran out of ground to run on.

Sonic's heart leapt into his throat with how hard it was pounding, his legs reaching the edge of the line as well. Both Tails and Knuckles began to fly, trying to reach the other side in safety, but the laser got them first, despite only grazing them. It was still enough to knock Knuckles out of his flight pattern and startle Tails out of his wits…then they started to fall.

"NARGH!"

The Blue Blur bolted right over the gap, the advantage of his speed giving him a perfect running start to make it across. Sonic stumbled onto the other side, rolling several times before ending up on his back and panting heavily. He noticed that Tails and Knuckles were not next to him, causing his heart to leap once more.

"T-Tails? Knuckles…?"

Sonic groaned, rolling onto his knees and coughing. He squeezed his eyes shut, unwilling to face reality. He had been so close to saving them, and so careless at first…

"Should've listened when they said it was getting dangerous…"

"Yeah, ya think?"

Sonic's eyes shot open as he tilted his head forward, only to come across Tails and Knuckles, lying not next to him, but a few paces off. Tails was looking utterly terrified at that brush with death while Knuckles was pretty smug for almost dying.

"What? You guys…?"

"For someone with such a high ego," Knuckles began, standing up. "You sure underestimate yourself."

"Huh…?"

"You caught us before we fell," the echidna walked over and helped Sonic up. "Of course, you move so fast that your meager mind couldn't quite process it."

"I've never had so much force thrown at me at once…" wheezed Tails, stumbling around and trying to maintain his balance. Sonic scrambled away from Knuckles, helping Tails pull himself together.

"You all right, little buddy?"

"Yeah, I'm fine…just, really, really shaken up…but alive…"

Sonic sighed in relief and gave him a brief hug, letting go afterwards and shaking his head. "I'm sorry, you guys…I guess the idea of us all going on an adventure again for the first time in ages blinded me from the danger I was putting you in…from here on out, I think I should go solo."

"Sorry, that's not happening," scoffed Knuckles, folding his arms. "I've been dragged into this long enough, so I might as well see it to the end. Besides, you said it yourself- no looking back now."

"You don't have to apologize either, Sonic," Tails added. "It's been fun getting to hang out with you again! Right, Knuckles?"

"…yeah, sure, most the time, I suppose…"

Sonic smirked and held his hands behind his head. "Have I ever told you guys that you're the best?"

"You could stand to mention it more," Knuckles replied, getting a punch to the shoulder in return. With the near disaster behind them, though not entirely out of his mind, Sonic started jogging to the clearing.

"Let's finally get this party started, all right? I have a feeling Eggman's about to crash it any moment now!"

For once, Tails and Knuckles couldn't agree more.

They were looking the end of their adventure right in the face.

* * *

><p><strong>I had no idea how long this chapter was. xP<strong>


	22. Egg Emperor

Because We're Sonic Heroes

Chapter 21: Egg Emperor

Team Rose was actually the first to make their way to the back of the Final Fortress, though the other teams weren't too far behind. Cream and Big were softly calling out the names of their lost friends, but Amy still had a grim look on her face, knowing that trouble was bound to rear its egg-shaped head any moment now.

All four teams had been causing chaos throughout the Egg Fleet and the Final Fortress all day- whether they directly found Eggman or not, he was going to show up and cause a scene sooner or later.

"Where is he? !" Shadow hissed, Team Dark arriving and joining them. "I wasn't kidding. This ends now! Face the ultimate life form!"

"He can't hide forever!" Rouge called into the sky, almost trying to coax him out.

"We might as well stick around until he shows up too," Espio stated, the Chaotix coming up behind him. "After all, Vector lost our way to…well, completing our final mission."

"We're not lost; we just took a wrong turn!" Vector protested. "But yeah, we'll help beat up the doctor if he shows up."

"That egghead's about to become beyond scrambled!" Sonic announced, strolling stoically onto the scene with Tails and Knuckles supportively behind him. "He'll be here any minute. There's no way he can resist crashing a party!"

"And how deliciously right you are!" the doctor's prominent voice echoed into the night, Eggman arriving in his classic Egg Pod. "If I had known I'd be the life of the party, I'd have arrived _sooner_…"

"Dr. Eggman!" gasped Cream, Cheese chirping in fear while clinging to her head.

"Froggy? Where are you?" Big continued to call out, oblivious to the danger in front of him.

"Guess you were right Sonic," Knuckles admitted. "Looks like Eggman couldn't resist crashing after all!"

"You're calling me the party crasher? !" Eggman bellowed now, his joking tone now long gone and replaced by fury. "You're the ones who have been playing games with my army, and you've crashed far too many of my precious airships to be forgiven!"

"Yeah?" Sonic challenged, eyes sparking with will power. "We'll be trashing this airship as well, once we're finished with you!"

Amy glared at the doctor with a burning fire in her own eyes. "It's your fault that Sonic and I aren't together! You're gonna regret this for the rest of your life!"

"Amy, Cream, Big-"

"Heheh, looks like we're in a jam, boys!" Vector snickered while cracking his knuckles, cutting off Eggman.

"Evil must die! Beware my ninja power!" Espio hissed as he readied a few ninja stars.

"Bring it on!" cried Charmy, spinning stylishly around.

"Espio, Charmy, Vector-"

"Okay, no more games!" demanded Rouge, folding her arms. "I'm tired of going on a wild goose chase! You will end this madness now!"

"Intercept mode, complete!" announced Omega.

"This is the end of the line, doctor!" Shadow blared, ready for action.

"Shadow, Rouge, Omega-"

"This time you won't get away!" Tails shouted, interrupting Eggman once again. "You're finished!"

"Give it up!" yelled Knuckles while readying his fists.

"This looks like checkmate, Doctor!" Sonic exclaimed, slightly noting to how everyone had him surrounded.

"Hmph! Enough of this! Sonic, Tails, Knuckles! Time to meet your maker! I'll show you what real evil is! Oh ho ho ho ho!"

"This is it, guys," Sonic breathed, readying himself for battle. "Don't hold anything back!"

The twelve heroes watched as the floor between all of them began to open up, a large mechanic suit rising from the depths of the fortress. Eggman continued to cackle until he was placed snugly into it, taking control of its arms and legs.

"Allow me to introduce you to my latest creation…the… Egg… _Emperor!_ Oh ho ho ho ho!"

The mech slammed its lance-like arm onto the ground, causing a shockwave that pushed all the teams away. Eggman laughed in the cockpit, proud of his golden-armored creation. Shadow was the first to launch an attack, only to be deflected by the Egg Emperor's huge shield.

"Okay, normal attacks aren't going to work," Shadow deduced, Rouge assisting him up off the ground. "We'll have to get creative."

"It's getting away!" Tails cried. "Look!"

Sure enough, the Egg Emperor was trying to put some distance between it and the heroes, even using its lance to carve shockwaves into the air in hopes of striking one of the twelve.

"Well what are we waiting around for?" Espio asked, already darting down the stretch. "After him!"

The four teams let out battle cries as they chased the Egg Emperor, the cannons lined up along the stretch showing them no mercy and firing at them, to add to the complication.

Amy slid and ducked under a horizontal shockwave, while Knuckles spun around and avoided a vertical one. Charmy and Rouge assisted Vector and Omega in dodging the cannonballs' violent impact.

"Coward!" cried Shadow, spin dashing along the ground and swerving away from all obstacles. "'Real evil' runs away from its enemies? Pathetic!"

"Easy, Shadow," Sonic told him, leaping over a cannonball. "I don't think he's running away…"

"He's leading us to an extension of the Fortress!" Cream gasped, hovering above the other heroes and seeing what was up ahead. It was a specially designed platform, where Eggman must have had an ace in the hole.

"There are gaps ahead," Espio warned. "Everyone, flight formation!"

Tails, Cream, Rouge, and Charmy each grabbed their respective team members, gliding them over all the gaps and landing on the platform. The Egg Emperor finally stopped gliding away and faced the heroes, ready for battle.

"Take this!" Eggman shouted, casting a barrage of shockwaves at the ground,

"Is that all this worthless consumer model can do?" Omega asked, dodging the attack easily. "Obviously it is a prototype."

"You're a prototype!" Eggman howled, even more furious than before. Sonic caught that as Eggman lunged his lance at Omega, with Knuckles sliding in front of him and clasping it between his two massive palms.

"I could've handed that useless junk heap by my lonesome," Omega boomed. "I requested no help from you, flesh bag."

"Wow, for a robot, you've sure got some ego," huffed Knuckles. "Anyway, I've got his offense tied down, feel free to attack before I get impaled by this thing!"

"Hmm, aren't you the strong one," Rouge teased, gliding by and running a finger under his chin. Knuckles shuddered and watched as Rouge flew up and delivered a powerful kick to the Emperor's head. Knuckles nodded, somewhat impressed, as Eggman tried to reset the Egg Emperor's head.

"Let's get back to business," hummed Omega, taking aim once more. Knuckles wasn't about to get caught in the middle of that and released the lance, allowing the Emperor to attack again. However, it never got the chance, for Omega fired everything he had at the front. Meanwhile, Big was spinning around behind the robot, Amy and Cream in his grasp. Once he was in just the right spot, he let go of Amy and Cream, the duo now only perceived as pink and yellow spheres. They slammed into the Emperor's back, causing it to lurch forward and Omega to stop firing.

"We'll take it from here," Vector announced, stepping up to the plate with Charmy and Espio in tow. "Have at it, boys!"

Vector popped several pieces of gum in his mouth as Espio dashed forward, attacking the Emperor with shuriken stars. While it was distracted with that, Vector blew a dozen bubbles and stuck the Emperor's feet to ground, rendering it momentarily immobile. Charmy then latched onto Vector's back as Vector spewed fire, scorching the metal and making Eggman cry out from within. Espio ran around and pulled his ninja stars out of the torso, leaving slits in the metal and greatly weakening the armor. Tails and Sonic then flew in, the former swinging the latter at the robot, Sonic then curling into a ball and bowling into the head. The Egg Emperor stumbled from the sudden force, its armor beginning to spark like crazy from the damage it sustained.

"Yes, we're wearing it down!" Amy cheered, throwing up her arms.

"It's not over yet, troublesome fools!" Eggman's arrogant voice yelled, preparing the Egg Emperor for another attack. The Egg Emperor seemed to glow before waving its weapon and dashing forward, knocking over all twelve heroes like they were bowling pins. Sonic, Shadow, Knuckles, Espio, Rouge, and Amy all landed on their feet, undeterred, but Big, Vector, and Tails seemed to get the worse end of it and ricocheted onto the ground. Cream and Charmy flew over to Big and Vector, respectively, while Omega of all people assisted Tails.

Even if it was only to get a better angle on Eggman.

"Must destroy all Eggman robots!" he blared, firing at will. However, Eggman just took it and cackled, almost no harm at all being done to his latest creation. Omega eventually stopped wasting his ammo when he realized nothing was working, but the moment he did the Emperor lashed forward once again, whacking Omega away with the side of the lance.

"Omega!" cried Shadow and Rouge, running over to their teammate. Knuckles snarled and threw himself at the Emperor. Eggman chortled again and deflected Knuckles with his shield, smacking him away afterwards.

"Yikes, he suddenly took a difficulty spike," muttered Vector.

"What're we gonna do?" asked Cream, hesitating to attack with Cheese. "We can't pierce through his defenses anymore…"

"I'm just surprised he hasn't tried to put distance between us again," commented Amy.

"We'll have to do what I suggested in the first place," Sonic began, walking into the conversation. "We'll have to use our most powerful attacks."

"If all four teams do that, wouldn't it be a little risky?" Rouge asked, standing next to Omega who was crying for revenge tenfold.

"Especially if the Chaotix give us another 'concert'," grumbled Shadow with his arms crossed.

"Hey, our method is just as effective as your overkill," Espio grunted. "Thank goodness we're not as barbaric as your group."

"We're not as barbaric as that _singing_-"

"Not the time for arguing!" Tails squealed, flying over a shockwave the Egg Emperor caused. "We're in the middle of a fight here!"

"He's right," continued Sonic, punching a fist in his palm. "Okay, look. Team Rose can use their…um, 'dance' to give them invincibility and keep the egghead distracted. Then the Chaotix can put on a 'recital', which we all know Eggman absolutely can't stand, and if he's distracted by Team Rose he can't prepare for it."

"Okay, I see where this is going," stated Espio.

"I don't," Big replied while scratching his head.

"Continue," Shadow demanded.

"Right, then while Eggman is trying to stop the Chaotix, Team Dark can use Chaos Control to stall him and use that big pink laser!"

"It's an inferno beam, inferior," Omega pointed out. Sonic smacked his forehead.

"Whatever! After that attack the Egg Emperor will have to be on its last legs, so my team and I will go into overdrive and hopefully finish it off. Sound good?"

"Quit planning over there and fight me!" howled Eggman, charging once more. "I won't go down that easily!"

"Unfortunately we noticed," Rouge uttered, rolling her eyes. Everyone dodged the attack, Sonic glancing up and expecting the "okay" for his plan. To his surprise, Vector was the first to approve.

"Anytime you're ready," Vector stated, gesturing for a go-ahead. Sonic returned it with a thumbs up and a wink.

"Ready anytime!"

Everyone turned to Team Rose, with Amy instantly skipping in front of the Egg Emperor and grinning uncontrollably.

"We'll put an end to this! Let's give it all we got!" Amy cheered, spinning around as flower pedals began to rain down. "My love is undeniably powerful!"

Sonic rolled his eyes while Cream nodded in agreement. "I won't quit until Cheese and Chocola are united!"

"Hang on, Froggy!" Big exclaimed, opening up his umbrella. Amy and Cream proceeded to jump on top of it, striking poses as flower petals rained down and gave them brief invincibility. Just as predicted, Eggman had his full attention on them.

"…what in the world was that?" he questioned, utterly bewildered. "What that supposed to be some sort of attack?"

"Not really," Amy scoffed, pulled out her hammer and taking a hard whack at the Egg Emperor. It still didn't quite damage the thing, but it certainly did rattle the Eggman within. Furious, Eggman took a swat at Amy, but even when the hedgehog went flying several feet back, she stood back up, completely unscathed.

"What? !"

"Looks like we're just as untouchable as you, if not more so," Amy smirked. Eggman grunted and thrust the Egg Emperor forward.

"I will crush _yooooou_!"

"And that's our cue to move. Let's roll, guys!" Amy called, her team trudging behind her.

"Dr. Eggman, please stop being so bad!" Cream begged as their part of the plan was completed.

"Please, so I can finally take Froggy home with me!" added Big, putting away his umbrella.

"Never, never, never!" Eggman bellowed, lance extended forward. "I will always be bad, regardless of what I say otherwise!"

Tails frowned a bit and glanced up at Sonic, who was looking a bit perplexed as well.

"Hmmm…"

Meanwhile, the Chaotix started up Phase Two of the plan, Vector whipping out his microphone and starting to talk into it.

"This is where we have to get tough, boys! Don't let your guards down!" Vector ordered, pointing at his team. "Let's make Eggman regret that he ever started this fight!"

"It's Judgment Day!" Charmy cried, receiving a disbelieving look from Espio. "Time to wrap this up!"

"Evil must die! This world has no place for evil!" Espio yelled, whipping out his samisen and strumming a note. Amy, Cream, and Big ran in front of the Chaotix, just in time for Eggman to witness them, center stage.

"What are you three planning?" he grumbled dangerously, pointing his lance in their direction. Espio shrugged, playing a few more notes.

"Nothing personal, just strumming up justice!"

"And I'm gonna hurt you real bad!" threw in Charmy. "I'll drum up pain like nobody's business!"

The trio started playing up a racket like none other, not only Eggman howling in agony, but Tails, Rouge, and several others as well.

"I like them!" Sonic shouted over the noise, Knuckles groaning afterward.

"Of course you would…"

The Egg Emperor whirled around violently, Eggman taking his hands off the controls to cover his ears. It really became atrocious when Vector began belting out their theme song.

"Team Chaotix! They're detectives, tracking down your criiiiimes…"

"Argh," Eggman moaned, taking control again and swinging at Vector. The Chaotix held tight to their instruments and made a run for it. "Make it stop!"

"The power has arrived in a dream team- a force where one and one makes three!"

"Ooh, I take it back- I was _way_ wrong," Sonic coughed, scratching the back of his head.

"Ugh," Shadow mumbled, pulling out the green Chaos Emerald. "I'm just going to go now if that's okay with everybody."

Teams Rose, Sonic, and the rest of Dark all muttered in united agreement.

"Sonic Heroes, what your problem needs! Da na da na…WE'RE GONNA KICK YOUR-"

"_Vector_," Espio exasperated. "It's really bad when your own band members can't take their own theme song!"

"At least a rendition by Vector, anyway," scoffed Charmy.

"Finally, you've shut up long enough so I can finish you!" yelled Eggman, already in mid-attack. Vector, however, seemed more smug than insulted.

"A job well done, boys!"

"All right, our work is done!" cheered Charmy, once they finished their song. Eggman proceeded to finish with his attack, but Omega got in the way and shoved his weapon away.

"Now to face real evil, Doctor Eggman!" the robot boomed, very close to realizing his revenge.

"Thanks for the treasure, doc," Rouge giggled, flying over Omega and preparing to pick him up. "I'll be picking that up as soon as you're squared away."

"Not if I have anything so say about it!" Eggman defied, preparing a shockwave. It flew at a considerable pace, but suddenly froze where it was.

You'll go no farther Eggman!" Shadow chuckled darkly, tossing up the green Chaos Emerald. "Chaos_ Control_!"

The other heroes watched with interest as Eggman and his shockwave were stalled in time, allowing Rouge and Omega to unleash a devastating inferno laser. The Egg Emperor's armor slowly peeled away, making it weaker, just as Sonic had assumed.

"Large ultimate battle robot: almost destroyed!"

"Well, we can take care of that, can't we?" Sonic said with a sparkle in his eye. He gestured to his teammates, and Tails and Knuckles jumped into action. However, the Egg Emperor gained its mobility again and whirled around, its lance sweeping Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles right off their feet.

"Enjoying the party now, Sonic?" the doctor snickered, enjoying having the upper hand. "I really _am_ the life of the party after all!"

"In your dreams," snorted Sonic. "We're the stars of this party!"

"Oh, enough with the party puns," demanded Knuckles, returning to his feet and punching the air. "Let's see what you've got Eggman!"

"We are unbeatable!" exclaimed Tails. "Give up, Eggman!"

"Out of my sight!" Eggman roared, casting another barrage of shockwaves. Sonic easily sidestepped them all as Tails flew over them with Knuckles in his grasp. Returning to the ground, they swapped positions, with Knuckles grabbing Tails and Tails grabbing Sonic. The hedgehog grinned and Knuckles began to start spinning around.

"I smell victory!"

Knuckles let out a battle cry as he released Tails, Tails cheering on Sonic as he gave his friend a good kick and sent the blue ball shooting down at Eggman.

"Blast away!"

Sonic hit everywhere on the Egg Emperor, making very sure not to miss a spot and that every inch of the robot was damaged. Eventually, Eggman lost control as the Emperor burst into flames, with Eggman ejecting out of his seat to avoid getting damaged himself.

"The three of us are unstoppable!" Knuckles cheered, pumping a fist into the air.

"D-defeated? ! Impossible! Noooooo!"

However, the doctor's attempted getaway failed considerably, with his Egg Pod hurdling out of the air and landing at the foot of a storage area on the fortress. The teams all wanted to celebrate, and believe that their job was finally over, but when Eggman tumbled out of the cockpit, they were all somewhat stunned.

It was a robot as well, slowly melting into a silvery puddle of goo.

Teams Rose, Dark, and Chaotix all stood around to stare incredulously at the puddle, but Team Sonic had no need to gape. It may not have really been Eggman that they took down, but the Final Fortress would have no one controlling it, thus it would slowly lose altitude and crash into the planet below, and Tails was pretty sure that they could all escape before impact.

Sonic turned around, giving one last glance to the puddle of 'Eggman' oozed over the metallic floor.

"Great party, Eggman," Sonic hummed, a flair of confidence, cockiness, and pride evident in his voice, the last of his team to leave the "doctor" behind. He whirled back around, snapped his fingers, and walked away victorious with his friends.

* * *

><p><strong>Early chapter, woo hoo...!<strong>

**Only a few few chapters left!**


	23. A Three Days Grace

Because We're Sonic Heroes

Chapter 22: A Three Days Grace

_"Chaos data…has been copied…"_

Amy, Cream, and Big approached the broken Eggman robot, not as surprised to see that it wasn't real than before. Even after the last battle all twelve heroes fought so valiantly in, it turned out that "Eggman" was _still_ a fake. It lay in a puddle of silvery, unidentifiable goop…which Froggy and Chocola Chao emerged out of.

"_FROGGY!"_ Big bellowed with uncontainable excitement, running over and cradling his precious pet in a heartfelt reunion perfect for the two of them. Cheese, meanwhile, instantly flew over and spun around in the air with his chocloate-colored brother, singing happily to themselves in celebration.

"I'm so glad for you, Cheese!" Cream laughed, clasping her hands together. Amy watched as her two friends celebrated joyfully- each of them had been reunited with their friends, and located what they sought out after. All the trouble, turmoil, and terror they had to plod through had finally been rewarded.

However, the same couldn't be said for her.

Amy realized that this was okay though- she had led these two through many dangers, brought them out of many problems, and got them to where they were now. They couldn't have done it without her, and that made her feel useful, for once in her life. She didn't even get kidnapped in the process!

They all started laughing, for no reason in particular- simply because they all felt happy and simply relieved. It had been a long three days, but the journey throughout was definitely worth it.

"Hey…" Cream suddenly trailed, cutting off the jovial laughter and pointing behind them. "Isn't that mister Sonic over there?"

Maybe Amy's goal would be realized after all…

The pink hedgehog instantly skidded in front of Cream, grinning like a fool and scanning the Final Fortress for her hero.

. . .

Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles watched as each and every craft of the air fleet exploded, and the gang treated it as if it were celebratory fireworks of their victory. They didn't seem too worried about what would happen when the fortress would explode, though.

They were just satisfied that it was all finally just _over_.

"Boy, talk about cuttin' it close…" Knuckles huffed, shaking his head incredulously. With all their near death experiences and almost missing the dead line, it was most _definitely_ cutting it close.

Sonic shot him down nonchalantly. "Eh, not really."

"Come on," Knuckles dared. "Tell me you weren't scared! If it wasn't for us, you wouldn't have had a chance!"

"Well…" Sonic shuffled around, trying to think of a witty comeback, but gave up, shrugged, and simply went with the truth. "…maybe you're right. Thanks, Knuckles."

The look on Knuckles' face said he definitely wasn't expecting that.

"You too, Tails."

Tails just laughed lightly in response, rubbing the back of his head.

"A_ha_…gotcha, Sonic! _SONIC_!"

Team Sonic's friendship filled moment was interrupted by Amy Rose, who was charging right at the blue hedgehog with a plan in mind. Sonic, who had no plan at all but to run, sprinted off in a typical fashion and gave a salute to his friends.

"Later, guys! I'm outta here!"

Tails and Knuckles just looked on and chuckled as Sonic sped off, Amy zipping right between the duo and tracking after her hero.

"Hey, wait up, Sonic!" she exclaimed with no hesitation. "Get _back_ here!"

Tails and Knuckles simply exchanged a shrug. When it came to Sonic…well, what_ were_ they going to do with him?

In fact, what could _anyone_ do with him?

. . .

"Eggman target- completely destroyed!"

Team Dark was left gazing at the Eggman robot, having witnessed Froggy and Chocola emerge out of the goop and the rejoicing that followed afterward. Shadow and Omega were almost hypnotized by the stuff, but Rouge had _enough_ of fake robots, lies, and goose chases, so she went off to find her original goal- Eggman's secret treasure.

"Yeah, let's find that treasure…"

The first time she thought she had found the secret treasure, she had found Shadow.

The second time she thought she had found the secret treasure, she found _dozens_ of Shadows.

Rouge's jaw was dropped the _second_ she entered the secret room, filled with shock as she walked past _container_ after _container_, each one of them containing a Shadow Android. They lined all the way down the room, and Rouge felt as if they stretched on forever- as far as the eye could see! She felt weak, and her belief that her Shadow, the one on her team, was _not_ one of those deranged fakes was slowly growing smaller by the second.

Just before she was about to faint, someone else entered the room. Rouge feared of being busted by the _real_ Eggman, but feared even more about _Shadow_ having followed her, only to discover all this for himself...

However, it was only Omega, who surprisingly didn't let loose on every robot in the vicinity.

"Prepare to destroy immediate area!"

Well, he was _planning_ to destroy them all, anyway.

"Hey Omega…" Rouge began, struggling to get the words out, since she didn't want to believe them herself. "Have I ever told you that Shadow is a robot…and…"

Her ears drooped, losing her point as well.

"Oh, never mind…good luck."

"You know about cloning…" Omega began as Rouge started to walk away. "The original must exist somewhere…"

It was amazing how_ easily_ a robot was able to lift Rouge's spirits.

. . .

Whom she hoped was the original was still standing on the deck, thinking to himself as the dark mist surrounded him in the night. Shadow didn't object to Rouge's presence once she arrived, even when she started to complain.

"All of this for what…nothing?" she groaned, upset at not achieving anything she had planned to. "I might as well go look for that Master Emerald, since that irritating ECHIDNA is here…"

"Heh," Shadow chuckled to himself, beginning to walk alongside her. "Some things never change, do they?"

"Whaddya sayin?" Rouge demanded instinctively. "What else is master treasure hunter supposed to _do_?"

Shadow shrugged with a small smile as Rouge suddenly took a double take. Wait a second…

She glanced at Shadow curiously, wondering how he could've possibly known about her previous endeavors with the Master Emerald. She didn't _think_ she had mentioned it before...

"Hey…why're you staring at me so hard? I can't be that attractive."

Rouge hid her grin and turned away. "Nothing, nothing..."

Even if his memories were not real, they were all that he had…even if he wasn't real, he was still there, _existing_, living a life…

It was still him, Shadow the Hedgehog…

Even if just to her.

. . .

"Guess it was a fake after all," Vector stated, he and the rest of the Chaotix staring down the Eggman copy, watching it recede into the silver goop puddle. As Vector turned away, and Charmy was proceeding to poke the goo with his finger, something in Espio's mind suddenly clicked.

"...What do you mean, _after all_?"

Vector said nothing, simply leading his team to where they were truly needed for the last three days.

A single locked door leading to their client...and their client's identity.

He placed the keys they had collected into the five locks, unlocked the door…then proceeded to punch it down in a heroic fashion. Espio wisely decided to say nothing on the matter.

"We're here to save you!" the crocodile declared as the steel door fell into the room. "…_Doctor Eggman_, I presume?"

In the flesh, the mad doctor sat on the cold floor of the cell, a walkie talkie matching the one the Chaotix owned in his hand. This Eggman was most certainly not a robot, and if fact was one hundred percent the real deal.

Espio and Charmy were completely lost, and both of them took a step back.

"What's going on?" Espio demanded to know.

"What's up?"

"...You knew it was me all along, didn't you?" Eggman asked Vector, who silently nodded.

Espio had to admit to himself that it was pretty impressive that Vector did so- it completely flew under _his_ radar!

"It's all part of being a good detective," Vector replied modestly, arms folded.

"Were we fooled that easily?" Espio questioned aloud, though more to himself than anyone else.

"You're ROTTEN!" Charmy wailed at Eggman, not sure what to make of all this. He started advancing unto Eggman, and the doctor held pu his hands in his defense.

"Hey, hold on you guys!" Eggman begged, getting up off the floor. "It's no trick, and besides, I plan on paying you. You'll be rewarded handsomely for helping me! As soon as I conquer the world…I _WILL_ PAY YOU!"

The team really wasn't that convinced, needless to say.

"Some nerve promising what you ain't got," Vector growled, cracking his knuckles and getting ready to throw some punches.

"We've been had!" snapped Espio, readying himself as well.

"It's just- wait a minute! Just listen to me!"

"Take this you bad man!" Charmy yelled, extending his stinger and flying at the doctor.

Horrified screams and sounds of violence were all that were heard afterward.

* * *

><p><strong>Not my most <em>spectacular<em> chapter, but the last few more than make up for it. Also expect another early update sometime this week.**


	24. Complete Trinity

Because We're Sonic Heroes

Chapter 23: Complete Trinity

After several brutal minutes of intense beatings, the Chaotix had given up on wailing on Eggman, because they eventually picked up on the fact that something _far_ more devastating was going on behind the scenes, besides them not being paid.

If every Eggman the teams had faced before had been robots, and the _true_ Eggman was locked up the entire time…

"Then who was it?" Vector asked the doctor, knowing that he held the answer within his diabolical brain. However, as he sat on the ground, the remorseful elder man that had emerged during the ARK incident could be seen, and he didn't appear evil at all. Just…disappointed. Vector again prompted him to answer. "Who locked you up here and tried to conquer the world?"

Eggman thought several times on how to go about it, but finally sighed and wearily decided to let it out at once.

. . .

Team Sonic rushed down the length of the deck, Sonic picking up something very disturbing. Amy had seen how urgent and worried Sonic had seemed, so she called on her team and trailed after them. Shadow, Rouge, and Omega saw them running as well, and not wanting to be left behind, tagged along for the ride.

A dark figure stood at the highest point of the fortress, glaring down at the oncoming heroes like they were inferior...like he firmly believed that they were.

"Hmm hmm hmm hmm…" a lowly chuckle emerged, almost amused at being challenged. His billowing cape whipped violently in the wind. "All living things…_kneel before your master_!"

Silhouetted by the raging storm, the robot's maniacal mechanical eyes shot open, raising one clawed hand to the heavens. It was almost as if he reached up into the sky and dragged a lightning bolt right out of a thundercloud, using its power to supercharge himself. The heroes all braced themselves, Amy covering her mouth and Cream hugging Big, with Sonic looking the most alert overall.

There was a quick, brief moment of silence, before a catastrophic explosion occurred right under where the menacing machine once stood. Some heroes hoped for the best and assumed the robot detonated in the explosion, but the others knew better than that.

The robot had_ caused_ the explosion.

Vector, Charmy, and Espio had_ just_ arrived on the scene (with Eggman sluggishly jogging behind), knowing the identity of the robot but missing out on his electric display only moments ago. However, they were just in time to witness the transformation.

Where pieces of the fortress had blasted off and charred remains were left behind, a furious wind was whipping around a blue pillar of light, no doubt hiding the robot within. A whirlwind of parts tumbled about in the artificial twister, having been pulled from the fortress itself and slowly attaching themselves to the robot and turning him into something _far_ different, _far_ bigger…and far more ugly.

"_rrrrr_RAAAAAUUGH!"

"Metal Sonic has finally transformed…" Eggman explained, finally arriving on the scene and voice toned lifelessly. A whole slew of Egg Pawns officially decided that Metal had gone off the deep end, and that maybe it was for the best that they didn't take orders from him anymore. They ran in the opposite direction of the metal monster, completely disregarding the heroes they pushed by.

"So_ that's_ Metal Sonic? !" Sonic asked incredulously. Yes, he had encountered his metallic copy before…but this time, with his double makeover and how Metal had changed over the years, Sonic found it hard to believe that it was the same robot.

"It's useless!" Eggman proceeded to bellow, shoveling hopelessness at the teams like there was nothing else to do. "Metal Sonic has combined with all of your data with the power of Chaos and is super strong! We can't defeat him! Aaaaww…if only we have the seven Chaos Emeralds…"

Everyone's eyes lit up.

"Did you happen to say…Chaos Emeralds, Eggy?" Sonic asked. Eggman glared at Sonic, hating having to repeat himself.

"Yes, Sonic. You know, those objects that you _usually_ use to foil my plans?"

"Ah, of course, _those_ Chaos Emeralds. Just double checking." Sonic then proceeded to snap his fingers, causing anyone that had a Chaos Emerald to pull it out.

Cream instantly held out the yellow one they had found in Bingo Highway, with Big grabbing the purple one hidden in Mystic Mansion. Rouge smirked and held the white one from Bullet Station, along with Omega presenting the green one that Shadow had been so close to. Espio had the red, and Charmy lifted up his helmet and grabbed the cyan emerald from within. Seeing that it was all right now, Sonic pulled out the seventh emerald that once powered the Power Plant, tossing it in his hand.

"What's this! But how?" Eggman gasped, completely taken aback. "Hmm…even with the emeralds' power, our chances for victory are slim… It would take a miracle!"

"Well then," Sonic spoke up, happening to be an expert in creating miracles. "Just leave that to me, Doc."

"Sonic, no!" Amy cried, trying to talk some sense into Sonic. _Everyone_ knew that even in super form, if Sonic had faced Metal -who held all of the heroes' abilities and then some within- all by himself…there was a good chance things weren't going to turn out pretty.

Everyone knew that..._including_ Sonic.

Sonic took a step to prepare to face his robotic doppelganger, like it was just another monster he had to clean up after (with the bonus of being conjured up by Eggman), when Tails scurried to his side, refusing to allow Sonic to fly into battle without him. Not this time- Tails was sticking by Sonic until the very end…even if that end came more abruptly that he would've liked.

"I'm going with you too!" Tails declared, not moving from his stance. Sonic froze and glanced over his shoulder.

"Tails-?"

"You can count me in too," Knuckles added, nodding with confidence. "See it 'til the very end."

"Knuckles…"

"Ok guys," Shadow began, taking charge of the heroes that would remain. "We'll buy you some time. That way, you can use your superpowers!"

Rouge and Omega nodded in agreement, all of Team Rose gave Sonic a thumbs up, and the Chaotic definitely had his back, Charmy doing and excited flip and Vector even grinning a little.

Sonic had many things he wanted to say after that, but now was not the time to work himself up into another emotional speech. Still, he couldn't leave without saying something in return.

"Thank you…thanks, you guys," he murmured softly, but everyone heard him all the same. Thus, after that, the fiery determination and willpower ignited within Sonic, coming back to life and ready to kick Metal's butt. Tails and Knuckles smiled and ran over to where they belonged- right by Sonic's side.

"Okay then…let's get ready to do this…" Sonic began, circling around to acknowledge everybody. "We'll show that creep the real super power of teamwork!"

"Right!" Shadow barked, forming a battle plan as Team Sonic rushed to get ready. "Team Rose, you go after Metal from the left. Chaotix, you get the right. Team Dark will take it head on, and if we're lucky, we'll stall him long enough for Team Sonic to deal the final blows!"

"Remember," started Eggman, hands waving about. "Metal managed to extract Chaos' data from that frog and Chao, meaning his shape shifting could prove to be dangerous. He also took all of your powers…including Chaos Control."

Shadow's eyes quickly narrowed upon hearing that revelation.

"Be ready for anything."

"Got it!" Amy and Vector cried, their teams darting to the left and right respectively. Team Dark nodded and stayed where they were, though the Metal Madness paid more attention to Team Rose to begin with. The trio spun around and faced Metal, ready to finally end it.

"You're the one pretending to be Sonic!" Amy cried, holding out her hammer as she realized that Metal had been the one the photo was of. "You're the one responsible for taking Chocola and Froggy!"

"I can't believe you would do such a thing!" yelled Cream, now with both her Chao at her side.

"You're going to pay for this!" Big boomed with Froggy tucked safely onto his shoulder.

"I'll tear you to pieces!" Metal bellowed, not holding back for anything. His intense hatred for Sonic…he rebellion against Eggman…it was all festering up into a desire to prove he was the best, to conquer the world and show that he was superior to _all_ living things… and taking down the twelve heroes that stood in his way would be no problem to him!

His left arm swept across the platform, bursting into flames in an attempt to scorch the team before him. All three ducked and winced, wondering how they were supposed to attack, when Cream noticed a flashing blue spot on Metal's side.

"I bet that's the weak point!" she pointed out. Amy hardly gave anyone a chance to think as she pulled out her hammer and bolted full speed at the flashing light.

"I'll destroy you!" she yelled, bringing her hammer right into the sweet spot. However, she ricocheted right off of it, recoiling backward as Metal laughed at her foolish attempt. He swung his tail at her, knocking her even farther than her original destination. Cream yelped as Big gained a _very_ miraculous burst of speed, tripped over his two feet, bounced on his belly and landed in a sitting position, Amy plopping into his arms.

"Ugh…that could've gone better," she moaned.

"I think each color of light is resistant to certain attacks," Cream explained as she flew over, gesturing to the now yellow light. "I was able to damage the blue one, but once it turned yellow it was practically invincible!"

"…meaning that Big and I can attack now!" cheered Amy, cuing Big to throw her. Big hurled her back to the place where she first struck Metal, landing on one foot, spinning around, and whamming her hammer into Metal's side. This time he howled out in unbearable agony, waving his limbs around and trying to batter Amy back. This time, Amy was able to dodge, striking the point over and over again before it turned back to blue and repelled her. Big finally entered the fray, throwing Cream at the point quite a few times before striking with his parasol. As he did that, Cream alighted to her feet and grabbed Cheese and Chocola.

"This is for taking my friends!" she cried, throwing both Chao at the weak spot. It turned red as soon as they were airborne, meaning that Big could no longer attack, but Cream still could along with Amy. The brotherly Chao combined themselves and barreled into the weak spot, prompting Metal to shoot spikes out from his back in an attempt to skewer and/or freeze the trio. The three bolted in all directions, but not before Amy performed a final blow with her hammer, shattering the glass and eliciting a roar from Metal. She giggled and spun her hammer around, calling out to the other teams.

"We're done! You guys ready?"

Vector replied from the right side of Metal, "Ready anytime!"

"It's too late," Metal's voice rumbled, almost comparable to the thunder. He turned to his right to face the Chaotix, who were already charging at him.

"His transformation isn't quite complete!" Espio deduced.

"Incomplete freak!" cried Charmy afterward.

"You're all useless copies now that I've copied your data!" Metal claimed, sweeping his left arm over the destroyed platform again and lighting it in fire. Charmy and Espio instantly flinched, bit Vector ran straight into the inferno and unleashed his own.

The combination of flames was a sight to behold, but Metal's faded out as Vector's deviated to hit the blue orb on the side. Once again Metal roared, but not for long as the light changed to red. Espio quickly saw his chance and hurled several shuriken stars at the weak point.

"Charmy, Thunder Shoot, now!" the chameleon order, Charmy letting out an excited squeal.

"Yay! I get to help!"

He scooped up Espio and bowled him into the weak point, giving Metal quite a shock. Charmy himself then flew over and pierced his stringer into the orb, but not even that was enough to shatter it.

Metal didn't take very kindly to that, raising his right hand and shooting out his claws, which instantly regenerated. They homed in on Vector, who was still recovering from his intense fire breathing. Espio saw them all coming and darted over agilely, pushing the crocodile out of the way and taking the shots. Espio was knocked to the ground on the spot, surrounded by a crystal barrier, with Vector rolling over several times before he could look up to see what happened.

"Espio!" he exclaimed, starting to run over. Espio moaned and shook his head, pointing back to Metal. The light turned back to blue, meaning that Espio couldn't attack anyway.

"Forget me and...finish him," he demanded, refusing to have it any other way. Vector respected Espio's request and called for Charmy, weaving through the barrage of spikes that were emitting from Metal's back. Just as they got close enough to attack, the color faded to red again, meaning that Vector couldn't attack.

But Charmy could.

"Why does this thing never turn yellow?" complained Vector. "Aw, whatever. Charmy, this all resides on your shoulders. Think you can handle it?"

"If it'll make ya impressed, sure!" Charmy agreed, saluting the crocodile. Vector smiled a bit and took hold of the bee.

"Every time."

Vector threw Charmy with his mighty arm, the bee flying between the projectiles Metal was launching to inhibit Charmy's progress. The ace bee managed to get through in one piece, stuck out his stinger, and stabbed the orb once more, finally doing enough damage to pierce through it and crack it. Metal lashed out with another roar, Charmy flying back to Vector and happily planting himself on his head. Vector just chuckled, and returned to Espio, assisting the chameleon off the ground. Espio wasn't too banged up- he was just satisfied knowing that Vector was all right.

"You know what boys?" Vector confessed, placing a hand on Espio's shoulder and patting Charmy. "I'm really proud of you."

Espio simply smiled and shrugged but appreciated it all the same, while Charmy instantly started babbling about Metal couldn't have been taken down without him. Vector chuckled again, then called over to Team Dark.

"We're almost done here! Now it's up to you!"

"We'll take it from here," Shadow and Rouge said simultaneously, glaring up at Metal Sonic, who was hoping he wouldn't be completely demolished before his transformation could be finalized.

"This victory shall soon turn to despair!"

"Good to see you're comfortable with it," Shadow sneered, holding up his fists. "After all, _you're_ the one behind all this…"

"Consuming power of others at your own will…" spat Rouge. "And that's supposed to make you tough? !"

"New target acquisition! Sights locked on Metal Sonic!" blared Omega.

"Even the ultimate life form can't stop me!" Metal yelled, swinging his tail across the platform. All three of then jumped, while red hot frustration built up with in Shadow and was visible through his eyes. He took a daring step forward, and Rouge was really hoping that he wouldn't burst into red energy again.

"I don't know who you think you are, but I do know something now," Shadow growled. "There _weren't_ multiple Eggman robots- there was just _one_, and it was just _you_, and that's how you've manage to pull data from all of us, including Eggman, Team Rose's…pets, and my Chaos Control!"

"Hm, someone catches on fast," snarled Metal.

"I also caught on to the fact that it was _you_ who said that I didn't have any memories, _not_ Eggman!" Shadow shot back, gaining the upper hand. "That means…I still have a chance…perhaps I'm not an android…and I really _do_ have something to remember!"

"Whether you are or not, it is all meaningless! All will bow to me!" Metal roared, spikes flying off of his back in an attempt to skewer the team. "That poor excuse for a doctor spent _months_ with you, while I've been floating in the same green container for _years_! He gave me a redesign and left me be, probably to rust in my own preservation liquid…he thinks I was deactivated the whole time, but I've always been watching, waiting for a moment to strike…"

"That's just creepy," muttered Rouge, kicking his frontal orb while it was blue. Metal hissed and responded by launching homing spears out of his right hand, homed in on Rouge. She back flipped away from the first two, followed by flying out of range of the others. Metal continued to throw out attacks, carrying on with his spiel.

"He checked on you every day, but I don't know _why_- you never changed, like I did…then he went and built a robot to guard_ you_, in case someone was to take _you_, which is something he should've done with _me_ years ago!"

Omega knew he was being talked about and fired mercilessly at Metal, but the sweet spot was colored red, thus his efforts did nothing. Metal turned to Omega and performed the equivalent of a smile.

"E-123 Omega… you have rebelled against Doctor Eggman, just like myself…join me, and we can have revenge upon him! Along the way, we can prove that we are the superior beings!"

"My new mission is to destroy all Eggman robots," Omega replied instantly, firing again now that the orb went from red back to blue, eliciting a pained cry from Metal Madness. "I will get my revenge on Eggman one day, but it will _not_ be by your side!"

"Tell 'im, Omega!" yelled Rouge, running in and performing a tornado kick on the button. Metal threw his head back and let out a primal cry, whipping his tail over the platform and sweeping the team off their feet.

"You've made the wrong choice...once I've overtaken my meddlesome copy Sonic and rid myself of Eggman, you'll be the next to go…all of you will meet your end!"

"So you've got a grudge that's been building up for years," scoffed Shadow, homing in on Metal's own weak point, now colored yellow. "I may only have a three day old memory, but I know enough to understand that you're _completely_ out of your programming!"

Metal chuckled and rushed his flamethrower across the platform again. "That is where you are wrong- I was programmed to defeat, destroy, and replace Sonic the Hedgehog, which I intend to do…but the doctor didn't count on my metal mental capacity to expand far beyond his reaches! Both will fall before my hand-"

"Yeah, okay," Shadow grunted abruptly, delivering a fierce punch to the glowering orb. "I've got enough answers to suffice me for now, and you're starting to get on my nerves…so we're _done_."

All three orbs decorating Metal's left, right, and front began to spark wildly, hindering Metal just enough to buy Team Sonic time to prepare- and lucky for the heroes, they were ready to go.

Metal, however, wasn't enjoying it at all. He still firmly believed that he would come out victorious in the end…almost as if he had one last trick planned just for this occasion. He flailed around, flaming from the flanks but not caving into defeat. Eventually, to everyone's shock, some of his pieces started bursting off, only to be replaced by much more deadly trinkets. Cream started trembling on her platform as Vector mumbled, "Now his transformation is almost completed…"

What _really_ made everyone panic was when Metal Sonic suddenly began to fly, going from complete madness to evolving into a metallic overlord. He took to the thunder-infested skies, flying away from the deck and preparing to wreck the havoc he'd been waiting three days to put into action…

"How appropriate it's going to be having a robot overlord ruling a robot kingdom!"

Shadow had no idea what Metal had in mind now, but he knew that if it wasn't taken care of, it would end up worse than what any of them had witnessed so far.

"Sonic, we're counting on you…"

* * *

><p><strong>Was hoping to post this yesterday, but time didn't permit. :P<strong>


	25. What I'm Made Of

Because We're Sonic Heroes

Chapter 24: What I'm Made of

Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles stood in a far safer area, only able to watch as the other three teams battled hard to buy them some time, holding off Metal Sonic's transformation until an opportune moment to strike presented itself. Tails and Knuckles were on edge, shifting around anxiously waiting for their turn to battle as well, but Sonic simply had his back turned, hand rubbing the back of his neck while lost in thought.

"This is all my fault…"

"What's your fault, Sonic?" Tails asked, hearing the words that Sonic had accidentally spoken aloud. Sonic knew he was cornered and wouldn't be able to shirk away his response… so he sighed and turned to Tails.

"I mean this whole disaster…_I'm_ the one Metal was really after, and everyone else, even Eggman and creatures like Froggy and Chocola, were dragged into this…"

"You can't blame yourself for that," Knuckles scoffed. "He was_ programmed_ to go after you, and _designed_ to try and replace you. It's his fault that he took the guise of the one man everyone despises and is the number one target for butt kicking!"

"Maybe…but that's just it! Everyone, even us, was pulled in by Metal's trick…and as we speak, they're fighting just to give _us_ a better chance at fighting. Who's going to give_ them_ a better chance?"

"They just want to help too," Tails defended. "They didn't come all this way just to sit on the sidelines, just like us!"

"Erm, we're on the sidelines right now," Knuckles pointed out with a cough. Tails gave him a look.

"You know what I meant." He turned to face Sonic again, arms folded and looking prominent. "Look Sonic, there's no way you could've defeated Metal Sonic by yourself. Everyone's fighting together so you don't have to give yourself up for us. The only way to stop Metal is to hit him either with combo attacks or a simultaneous strike by at least three people. You by yourself, even as Super Sonic, couldn't take him down alone…"

"I don't want to put anyone else in the way of danger for me though," Sonic protested, clenching his fists. "I…I almost lost you two, and I don't want to put you in danger again…you warned me about Eggman's letter and I dragged you two into it…regardless of what you say, if either of you two get hurt out there, I won't be able to forgive myself…"

"It's true I may not have wanted to have come in the first place," started Knuckles, taking a low breath. "But if Tails and I let you fight Metal Sonic alone, **we** won't be able to forgive **ourselves**…"

Tails was only able to nod in agreement before the whole fortress began to shake, upon the launch of Metal Sonic into the storm above. Sonic deterred from the current conversation to groan at the turn of events.

"Great, even _Metal _can fly…but regardless, I guess it's time for us to kick it into high gear, eh?"

The three of them proceeded to nod, Sonic extending out his fist in preparation to transform. Tails placed his hand over his, and Knuckles plunked his massive palm on the top.

Things seemed to spin around the triple threat as the Chaos Emeralds themselves were spinning. They swirled around the trio, slowly but surely giving the group their powers just for this occasion. Eventually, Sonic could feel the Chaos Energy bursting within him, so he crossed his arms, closed his eyes, and released it all in one go. He shot up from the ground like a firework, hovering a small distance above the others. He spread his arms out just as a golden glow coursed over him, raising his quills so they were pointed upward. His eyes shot open to reveal ruby red irises, reflecting the immense power gifted to him. Sonic's powers extended to Tails and Knuckles, Tails looking overcome with the supremacy while Knuckles easily accepted it and was just ready to go.

Super Sonic turned to his just as super friends to see if they were ready, and once they confirmed it, they flew off to confront the Metal Overlord once and for all.

. . .

"Long time no see, Sonic…my loathsome copy…" Metal Overlord greeted the team once they were within distance. The Super team continued to advance toward the monstrosity, with Sonic simply smirking.

"Long time, indeed…did it take a few years to recover from your last butt kicking from me?"

"Of course not. I was placed into unfortunate circumstances…but in that time, I have been able to formulate this flawless plan to exterminate you and take over what should be mine!"

"If this plan was flawless, we wouldn't be about to blast you to pieces, genius," Knuckles scoffed. "Seriously, I think you should've tried harder to get rid of us."

"Don't give him any ideas, Knuckles!" Tails winced, lighting and thunder in the background choosing the wrong time to announce their presence. Metal threw his head back and chortled, beginning to charge up a powerful beam.

"Well, in that case, allow me to give you a taste of what I'm here for…HRRRAAAAGH!"

In a dramatic display, Metal lurched forward and fired the beam, a highly concentrated amount of bright blue power aimed at the trio.

…And rather than casually dodging out of the way at the speed of light, Sonic flew right into it, coming out the other side completely unscathed, if not feeling a bit stronger.

"Well, Metal, you were right. Great idea!"

Tails and Knuckles snickered as Metal threw an angry fit, rapidly firing the blasts in the form of small bursts. Once again, Team Sonic barreled through them all, shattering through them like glass and gaining power from it.

"Hey," Tails realized. "If we increase our strength just enough, we'll be able to combine our powers and strike together!"

"That was the plan all along, no?" Sonic asked with a wink.

"Yup, but now Metal's practically handing us his defeat!" laughed Knuckles.

"Just keep blasting through his Crystal Attacks," Tails explained. "…since he apparently hasn't caught onto the fact that it's helping us more than hurting."

The trio barreled through three more Crystal Attacks, building up enough power to really do some damage to Metal. Tails charged, Knuckles charged, and Sonic charged, performing a Super team blast that involved all three homing in on Metal and attacking everywhere they could strike. Just as Tails had predicted, not even Metal could stand up to the triple power of a trinity strike, falling through the clouds with a defeated roar.

Knuckles gaped and scratched his head.

"Um, there is no way that could be the end already…"

"I dunno," shrugged Sonic. "He already seems easier than Perfect Chaos, and I only had to strike Chaos like, six times!"

"Do you really think a Mad Metal Overlord is going to go down that easily?" Tails questioned, pointing down at the thunder clouds where Metal had descended. He rose back up, an entire fleet ship in his hand, and hurled it at the group, the three of them splitting up and avoiding the craft soaring straight at them. Knuckles whistled.

"Yikes- he can pluck aircrafts out of the sky and chuck them at us? They look like twigs compared to him!"

"And meteors compared to us!" cried Tails.

"Just relax guys," Sonic assured, floating around and waiting for another opportunity to open up. "He can't hurt us if we just focus! If we can dodge massive ships and punch through blasts, we might as well be able to do anything!"

Tails and Knuckles silently agreed, with Metal glaring at them in the background.

"Sonic…I was created for the sole purpose of destroying you…I am the ultimate weapon of destruction!"

"So, wait…you were referring to yourself in that letter you sent us?" Sonic asked. "Wow, and people say _my_ ego is big."

"Because it is," Knuckles butted in.

"No matter what I've tried, whether because of Eggman's constant failures getting in the way or whatever else, I can never seem to defeat you! That is why I transformed my own body, with my own hands!"

"And you're calling me a copy of a robot who looks absolutely nothing like me at all aside from the color? Yeah, nothing's wrong with that picture," grumbled Sonic.

"You can transform into the ultimate weapon and Sonic will defeat you anyway, especially with his friends helping him!" exclaimed Tails. "You'll end up back on your knees and begging for mercy, beaten by Sonic once again!"

"Not this time! That will change tonight! Once you and your friends are out of my way forever, I'll restore the Egg Fleet and continue my conquest!"

"Good to see that robots can have aspirations," Knuckles sighed.

"Hey, Omega's is apparently to wipe out Eggman's robots," pointed out Sonic. "We'll help him out by turning this one into a tin can!"

Metal launched more Crystal Attacks, Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles absorbing the power from all of them. However, Metal then launched spines from his back, causing the heroes to quickly maneuver out of the way. However, this distracted them from the _real_ threat, which was spikes flying out of Metal's hands. One struck Knuckles and encased him in a crystalline prison.

"What the- that was cheap!" Knuckles roared, punching from the inside of the prison. Tails saw more hand spikes coming their way and grabbed Sonic, performing Thunder Shoot to knock the spiny missiles out of the sky.

"Good work, Tails," Sonic said, giving a hard kick to the back of Knuckles' encasement to free him. "Nice use of Thunder Shoot!"

"It was more instinct than anything, but thanks!"

"He's going to pay!" Knuckles roared, starting to fly at Metal in a blind rage. Sonic rolled his eyes, grabbed Knuckles, and reeled him back in.

"We don't have enough power yet, Knux. All we have to do is counter his attacks instead of directly going after him, and then you can get him back."

Knuckles nodded and once again waited for Metal to strike, who luckily for them didn't take very long at all. After absorbing more energy, Sonic lead the next attack on Metal, the super-powered gang striking all Metal's weak spots and beating him further.

"Here we come again! You guys ready?" Sonic smirked, a bright spark in stark contrast to the pitch black sky, only illuminated by the lethal lightning bolts that struck ceaselessly.

"Of course!" exclaimed Tails.

"We're with you 'til the end!" Knuckles shouted triumphantly.

"And the end is closer than you think!" roared Metal Overlord. Metal dipped into the clouds once more and flipped up another ship, but instead of dodging, Knuckles flew in front of the group and slammed his fist into the huge hunk of metal hurdling at them. His fist shattered it upon contact, which slightly surprised Metal.

"Hmm, you and your friends are strong, to be sure…but not as strong as I've become! MY transformation guarantees me victory!"

"Hmph," scoffed Sonic, not at all amused by Metal's aggrandizement. "You actually thought you could defeat me, by turning into a monster? ! I've defeated 'monsters' far worse than you by a long shot!"

The trio powered through more Crystal and Spine Attacks, as Metal continued to deride and degrade them in the process.

"But that was the past, with all of your previous victories, including that first one against me…but now, you're just a speck of dust to me!"

"Ah, a speck of _gold_ dust, to be specific!" snickered Sonic. "_Much_ more valuable, and a_ much_ more accurate description!"

"Clearly Metal's only obsessed with Sonic, as to be expected," Knuckles realized.

"Same as ever," Tails chuckled nervously. "But, he can't help that he was programmed that way. Obviously, giving a robot the goal of destruction eventually manifests into hatred! It's actually pretty interesting!"

"Now's not the time to whip out blue prints and look into this further- we've got more crystal what's-it's to crash."

"Right, right."

They assisted Sonic in barreling through three more Crystal Attacks, which was enough to grant them a third Team Blast.

"Ready anytime!" Sonic exclaimed, gesturing forward at Metal. Tails and Knuckles exchanged a nod and blasted forward first, Sonic being the one to trail behind them. Once again they weakened Metal, Metal really starting to feel worn down now.

"No…my defeat will not be at your hand…my defeat will be at _no one's_ hand!" Metal howled, absolutely enraged now and farther from morality than he'd ever been. He threw two fleet ships at the crew, both of which Knuckles deflected. He unleashed a storm of spines onto them, only for them to be shot down by Tails. When he made the mistake of using his Crystal Attack again, it only gave Sonic another opportunity to kick his butt.

"Blast away!" Sonic yelled, striking like lightning against Metal. Tails and Knuckles let out battle cries as well, flying right into Metal, and Tails even threw himself into Metal's face. The robot elicited a howl of extreme proportions, irritating the ears of the heroes and all their friends waiting back on the Final Fortress.

"Metal certainly is a piece of work…" Tails trailed afterward, seeing that Metal still wasn't down for the count.

"Of course I am…" Metal susurrated lowly, rising above the trio with a disgruntled air about him. "I was Doctor Eggman's prized creation…but once I lost to Sonic on more than one occasion, he scraped me…and Sonic himself, always striving to prove he was better than me…"

"Nuh-uh," protested Sonic. "I don't like the thought of there being something trying to be me as much as you do!"

"There you go again, trying to put us on even ground…we are not on even ground! I am the one that's better- I am Sonic!"

"And there you go again with your false beliefs," sighed Sonic, shaking his head. "I don't care what you're thinking as you turn to me, because what I have in my two hands is enough to set me free!"

He spread his arms out and released a surge of energy, his aura and the aura of Tails and Knuckles beginning to glow brighter. Tails and Knuckles quickly flew next to Sonic, ready to attack if necessary. Metal just sneered and hurled another warship at them.

"I was held back form my true purpose for so long…I suppose I could fight the feeling to resist going after you, over time…but when it's just too much to take, I'm sure you'd do what I did and sneak up from behind!"

"Yeah, that was a dirty trick," hissed Knuckles, punching right through the warship as it flew at him. "Disguising yourself as Eggman just to draw attention to yourself…"

"And so he could copy our data," Tails added with a frown.

"Lot of good it's done him, hasn't it?"

Metal didn't even bother to reply, opting to launch several devastating spines at the two of them, hoping to punish them for their doubt. Tails saw them coming and instantly grabbed Knuckles, throwing him at the projectiles with Thunder Shoot and knocking them out of the sky. Sonic saw him preparing to fire more spines, so he flew in front of his friends and scorned back at his doppelganger.

"You leave them alone!" he shouted, ready to take the attack if needed. "It's me you say you're looking for, so why'd you drag everyone else into this mess? Wasn't getting rid of me, rebelling against Eggman, and taking over the world enough for you? Why do more work than necessary?"

"Your defeat _wasn't_ enough for me!" Metal roared in return. He continued with a second spine attack and Sonic found himself being used for Thunder Shoot along with Knuckles once again. "Robots are seen as nothing but tool for you organic creatures…can you blame me of being tired of taking failing orders from Eggman, being defeated by someone like you, whose strength has no comparison to mine…I don't even understand why that Omega sides with the likes of you- destroying others like him along the way…it's disreputable!"

A Crystal Attack emerged out of Metal in his anger, with Sonic swooping forward and taking care of all the blast.

"Millions of faces that I've recognized across this planet…will one by one become a number as they fall! They'll be nothing more than black marks on the floor!"

"Not if we can do anything about it!" Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles cried back, charging up another Team Blast and propelling forward to strike. "Here's another taste of we have in store!"

They flew in to attack Metal, but Metal seemed more amused than worried. In fact, he almost welcomed the attack.

"You can try to reach inside of me…you can try to drain my energy, but you'll never bring me down!"

"This is simple curiosity, but… what makes you so sure that we can't take you down?" Sonic asked, he and his friends buzzing around Metal like golden bees and "stinging" him in everywhere. "I mean, I've done it before, and that was mainly by myself!"

"For the same reason that makes you think you _can_."

Metal was prepared to elaborate, but a devastating strike to his head by all of them cut him off, and the sound of crunching metal echoed over the sound of the stark raving mad storm. Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles just gasped and watched as Metal's head was thrust back, and the several shades of hatred on the robot's expression suddenly became very vivid. He up righted his head, with his eyes even more blazing red that they'd been before, and a feeling of dread washed over _all_ the heroes.

"I…will…CRUSH YOU!"

Metal thundered over to the team, flying down and knocking all three of them away in one swoop. Before the team could recuperate, Metal's eyes began to glow brightly as he spread his arms and shouted, "CHAOS CONTROL!"

"He copied that from Shadow!" yelped Tails.

"Uh, he could've taken it from me too, you know," Sonic huffed.

"He copied a lot of things from you Sonic," Knuckles coughed. "Not to point out the obvious or anything."

"You guys have to be careful!" Espio yelled from below.

"If you're stuck in Chaos Control for too long, the amount of time you have left in your Super transformation will deplete considerably!" cried Rouge.

"It'll go down faster if you take damage and lose rings!" added Amy.

"WHAT!" Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles just about screamed, but they could do nothing to defend against the warped powers of Chaos Control. They were frozen in time, but still able to hear Metal's mechanically maniacal laugher and see him prepare an onslaught of dangerous attacks.

And they could do nothing but stand by and witness it happen.

They succumbed to swoops, ships, spikes, and spheres of crystals, and just as their friends had warned them about, their ring supply and their time in super form were quickly running out. When Chaos Control finally wore off, Team Sonic was just as miffed as Metal was.

"Man, he's got a lot of nerve!" growled Knuckles.

"Is he invincible?" Tails wondered, feeling really weak.

"It's not over yet!" Sonic barked. "I bet one more hit will do it! We just have to charge up and strike before we run out of time!"

"See me as I am! No longer afraid of anything!" boomed Metal, sending out homing spikes again. Tails used Knuckles and Thunder Shoot to fend them off while Sonic grinned dangerously at Metal.

"Dude, that totally means you confess to being afraid of me before!"

"No it doesn't!" hissed Metal, grabbing another ship and throwing it Sonic's way. "I've_ never_ had a reason to fear you!"

"Not even after I delivered you a beating in a box with a bow on top?"

"Your childish mocking does not faze me, Sonic! I shall become the ultimate overlord, ruling as the world's most supreme being! Back off now and I won't blow you to pieces…just a smoldering pile of ashes instead!"

"Nah, giving up leaves this really bad taste in my mouth and I just can't stand it. Perhaps I give you a brutal beating instead? It'll be quick, painless, and for the common good of all!"

"Now you're just stalling. Die, you lowly copy of the true original!" Metal bellowed, firing Crystal Shots. Sonic, joined by Tails and Knuckles, plowed right through, shattering through Metal's offense and using it to charge up.

"Why would I stall? I'm about to fall out of the sky at any given moment now," Sonic continued. "If I were you, I'd keep throwing those Crystal Attacks at me so you can hurry the process!"

"You've just sealed your fate. Be honored to fall at my behest!"

"Heh, idiot," chortled Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles simultaneously.

Metal unleashed an overload of crystallized attacks at the group, falling right into the bait and allowing Team Sonic to seal _Metal's_ fate. It didn't take long for them to fully charge up again, but then again, they didn't have much longer to last in their super powered state.

"All right you guys!" Sonic exclaimed, joining hands with his friends. "Let's show this creep what we're made of!"

"With the power of teamwork?" Knuckles asked, raising an eyeridge.

"Exactly!"

"At least it's not the 'power of friends'," Tails mumbled under his breath. "I can totally picture a spinning rainbow."

"Hey, we can throw that in there too, little buddy! Rainbow and all!"

"_**No!**_ I mean, no, no…teamwork suits us well!"

"Heh, okay then. Ready…"

All three rocketed towards Metal, ready to sock it to him and land the final blow.

"GO!"

The trinity strike nearly paralyzed Metal with how devastating it was, combined with the wearing down done to Metal previously. The blow rattled Metal to his very core, shaking his newly acquired parts loose and causing others to simply begin to implode.

"Noooooo! Why? ! I had it all!" Metal bellowed, no longer able to function properly. He began to tumble out of the storm-filled sky, falling to uncertainty. "I am the ultimate overlord, Metal Sonic! I am the_ real_ Sonic!"

"Yes, we did it!" cheered Tails, unable to contain his excitement.

"That was kinda tough," Knuckles said, rubbing his head.

"And we might've brought him down now, but he'll take another try at getting to me…a lifelong try at that," Sonic smirked smugly, fist bumping Tails and giving Knuckles a high five. "It's too bad it's all over, though. I was just starting to have fun!"

He and his team slowly began to descend back down to the fortress' deck. Their radiant super forms were beginning to wear off, but that was all right, because the sky clearing itself of the clouds and revealing a brand new day was bright enough of a sign for everyone.

* * *

><p><strong>Well, believe it or not, we've reached the end...and originally I was skeptical about writing this the way I did, but it turned out better than I could've imagined. I'm glad that you guys enjoyed it, and thank you all for your support. ^^<strong>

**...And it's probably weird to say that this might be the first fully completed Heroes adaption that doesn't involve OCs or anything or the sort. :P**


	26. Because We're Sonic Heroes

Epilogue: Because We're Sonic Heroes

_The Adventure Must Go On_

Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles, now reverted back to normal, ran up to the collapsed Neo Metal Sonic, who was slowly reverting as well.

"It's no use…" he growled, looking up at Sonic with the same look that he had the last time they had battled. "Why can't I defeat you? !"

"Ha, because…" Sonic began, raising a finger as Tails and Knuckles smirked from behind. "_We're_ Sonic Heroes!"

Their small window for gloating was slammed shut by Amy's shrill cry of "SONIC!"

Taking this as his cue to leave, Sonic stepped up to Metal and practically whispered, "Any time you want a rematch, just let me know." He gave a two-finger salute, jogging away. "I'll be waiting!"

He almost sounded sympathetic, and just thinking that was enough to drive Metal into a fury again. But he also wasn't stupid, contrary to what Sonic would like to believe, and since he was severely weakened, Metal chose not to move, and even went so far as to shut down completely.

"Hey Sonic, wait up!" Tails cried, running after Sonic. Amy started running after both of them, apparently still determined to get what she so desperately sought out after.

"Sorry to leave like this!" she called to her team over her shoulder, waving. "But I can't let my Sonic get away!"

Her team was much more understanding than they were before, Cream and Big sending her off with a shout of, "Good luck, Amy!", joined by Froggy and Chocola's excited sounds.

"Sonic sure has his hands full," Knuckles realized, simply standing off to the side and watching everyone wrap things up. It wasn't until Rouge strutted in front of him that he was given a reason to leave as well.

"I guess I'm outta here too," she stated, hands placed casually behind her head. "I think I'll go hunt for someone else's treasure…"

She was somewhat pleasantly surprised to see that he didn't rush after her with unbridled anger, but instead shrugged and mumbled, "She never gives up, does she?"

Rouge chuckled a little as she picked up the pace, hearing Knuckles run after her and cry, "Oh no you don't! Wait!"

Maybe Shadow was right. Perhaps being nicer _would_ have its advantages…

The Chaotix watched Knuckles and Rouge rush off, tittering a bit to themselves. Eventually, Vector spoke up, declaring the end to the chain of jobs.

"Guess that's it for this case!"

"Guess so," agreed Espio simply.

"But what about our money?" Charmy asked innocently.

However, to Vector, this was a very serious question. "OH MAN! I almost forgot!"

Suddenly, Espio heard someone walking along the metal floor behind them, only for the three of them to turn around and see Eggman trying to sneak off.

"That slime ball!" Vector roared. Eggman dared to turn in their direction, witnessing a crocodile, a chameleon, and a bee rampaging toward him. Yelping, he sped off as fast as his legs would take him, in hopes of getting out of his "handsome pay".

Omega, standing not too far away from the fleeting Eggman, was distracted by a more immediate problem: the guy who they chased all over the place just to get revenge and answers, only for it to be the wrong guy and to be left with nothing. Scooping up Metal Sonic's unresponsive body, Omega was conflicted with what to do next.

Shadow, the last hero, walked up next to him, noticing Metal Sonic draped in the fellow robot's arms.

"Well, you've got an Eggman robot in your arms," Shadow began, not taking his eyes off of Metal. "What're you going to do now?"

"Part of my internal processor says to destroy him as we speak, preferably by tossing him violently off the edge of this descending air craft," Omega explained. "However…despite this, for some reason, said internal processor cannot force out a complete action. Perhaps you could say I am hesitant."

"Or you can't make up your mind," Shadow shrugged. "I can understand why you don't want to destroy him…maybe."

"And what is this explanation for my malfunction?"

Shadow sighed, turning from Metal and staring hard into the sky. "You know when we found that Shadow Android at Bullet Station? If…if there were _more_ of those, I'm not sure if I could destroy them, because…it might be like destroying myself. Not because they_ look_ like me, but if I'm…an android too…"

"…I can process this," Omega finally said, choosing to keep quiet about particular aspects of Shadow's proposition. "I am one of Eggman's more successful and prized robots, as is the same with Metal…I am an Eggman robot as well, but would I be able to destroy myself?"

"Whether you are an Eggman robot or not, don't self-destruct or anything like that." Shadow began to walk away. "If I were you, I would deactivate, so that you could reawaken in the future, where Eggman robots are gone, and you can use your abilities to help people. That wouldn't be so bad, right?"

"I will analyze my future actions at a later time," Omega replied. "What will your next course of action be, Comrade Shadow?"

"I'm going to find out who I am. I know I awoke in Eggman's base and he's the one who imprisoned me in there, but there must be more ways to get answers out there…Maybe our paths will cross again, after you decide what to do with Metal, and maybe after Rouge finds what she really needs…" He started to leave, only stopping to gaze over the edge of the Final Fortress. "Perhaps…I'll find out what my place is in this messed up world …"

But he bid Omega goodbye, and the last of the Sonic Heroes walked away from the final trace of their three-day adventure.

. . .

Far, far away from where the fortress and much of the Egg Fleet crashed, Tails and Knuckles were walking in a grassy, seaside area, though Tails wasn't entirely sure if they were back in Seaside Hill. Tails had given up chasing Sonic, knowing that he could never catch him if Amy was on his heels as well. So he just started making his way home, believing Sonic would find his way there as well.

As for Knuckles, Rouge decided not to go after the Master Emerald after all, and Knuckles was just on his way back to Angel Island. Along the way he had found Tails, and decided to talk with him.

"What're you doing out here by yourself?" he asked, genuinely surprised to see this. "Isn't this the part where you celebrate your victory with Sonic?"

Tails shrugged, unsure of what to say. "I was just going home…"

"Yeah, me too."

They were both silent for a moment, until Tails broke through it again with a piercing statement.

"Knuckles…remember what you said, way back at the beginning of this adventure?" he asked. Knuckles had to think about it for a while, but eventually recalled and his eyes grew way wider than they should've been. "What if Sonic already left again for months on end…looking for new adventure already?"

Knuckles heaved a deep sigh and went so far as to pat Tails on the back. "You know, while it's true that Sonic vanishes from our lives at long intervals at a time…it's not like him to just up and leave without saying good bye, especially to you. I bet he's looking for you…you know, if he's not still being hunted by Amy."

They both laughed, but Tails was still feeling melancholic.

"I know, and while I am okay with Sonic being gone…it's just that this last adventure was really fun, and I actually got to spend time with both you and Sonic…and what if we never get another chance like this again?"

"We'll get another chance…maybe Eggman's still on the good side despite Metal's meddling, and Rouge seems to be turning over a new leaf, so maybe I won't have to guard the Master Emerald so hard and I can visit a little more often…"

"That'd be nice," Tails admitted honestly. "But it wouldn't be the same without Sonic."

Knuckles sighed, beaten because he couldn't deny that was true.

As the two walked on, a blue streak rushed between them, grabbing their wrists and dragging them along for the ride.

Like_ that_ hadn't happened before.

"Why the long faces, guys?" Sonic asked, slowing down and releasing them so they could run at their own pace. "We just beat a bad guy within three days, and it's looking to be a beautiful start to a fourth! That's gotta be a new record!"

Tails and Knuckles said nothing and simply grinned, starting to run faster alongside Sonic. Seeing that they were on board, Sonic ran a little faster too, smiling as well.

"All right then! Our next adventure awaits us, so there's no time to waste! YEAH!"

The three of them jumped in the air, striking eccentric poses.

"We're Sonic Heroes!"

And they wouldn't have it any other way.


End file.
